How He Took The Fall
by classycontour
Summary: Ever wonder how The Fabulous Hudson Hornet got his start? Who taught him how to race and who made him famous? Who were the cars Doc knew before he became a doctor and moved to Radiator Springs? DocxOC
1. Prolouge

Brian and Dave watched as Doc drove around a small inclined dirt track. "So, what do you think? You'll train him?" Dave could only hope that he would change his mind about training someone again after all that had happened.

"What you say his name was again?"

Dave looked down at the papers in front of him, "Hudson Hornet." He read to Brian who had sighed. Dave was discouraged by the sigh, "Listen, I know you're still thinking about the Colton incident, but give this a try. C'mon, you need this."

Brian rolled his eyes, "Has he raced before?"

"Nope, you've gotta start from scratch. Exactly the way you need him, completely ignorant."

There was a moment of silence between them as Dave waited for Brian's answer. "We'll register him tomorrow, from there on in, he's my project… you got that?"

Dave perked up, "You'll train him?"

"I guess…"

"Oh, great, wait till I tell the team you'll go through with it. They'll be happy to hear this."

Brian turned to Dave, "The team already knows about this guy?"

"I talked to them about it before I came to you."

Brian scoffed, "I'm doing this because this is my job… not to make everything right again, understand?"

Dave gathered the papers up, "This will be just like old times."

"Just go get him for me, so I can talk to him."


	2. Chapter 1

**CHAPTER ONE**

Happiness. A good thing to own, and an even better thing to obtain once everything in your life has brought you down to nothing. Nothing more than a memory, a bad memory at that.

Ever stopped and thought that maybe, just maybe, happiness could be used as a weapon? That it could be used as your own downfall?

For someone who lived a perfect apple pie life, Brian never once felt anything but happiness. That was all he had from the beginning, and he figured he'd have it as long as he lived. But assumption can lead to horrible things as well.

Careless, wreckless was what Brian had become. No thought given towards the true meaning of reality. Nothing was perfect, he should have realized that. Nothing lasted forever, and that was a fact that he refused to believe in.

One fateful night in 1950 gave Brian exactly what he needed, a good dose of reality. It was more of a shock, but life none the less.

After moving from Virginia to South Carolina in early 1949, he met a business car named Dave who was looking for someone to help train his newly sponsored rookie who went by Colton.

Colton was a smart car, a quick learner. He was a deep, warm orange in color with the number 78 painted on his sides. A company's name painted below the numbers, a very popular company.

Dave was rich, very rich. Stock car racing was just being established in 1949, and he had seen this as an opportunity to keep his high income flowing. He quickly found himself a racer and was now on the prowl for someone to become Colton's crew chief.

Brian signed himself over to Dave's team and got to work. Right then and there, best friends were made. Him and Colton practically became one. There was nothing that they didn't do together, and they knew that their friendship would last forever.

It wasn't rare to see the flash of two cars flying through the small, unknown town in South Carolina next to the beach most days. You'd consider yourself lucky not to get run over by the blur of green and orange zipping past you.

Racing each other was the only way for Brian and Colton to learn more about racing. It truely wasn't long before the whole town knew who Colton was.

Dave took that chance to move his rookie out of local races, and into the state races. He had become well known, and well loved by all the cars back in their town. Coming home after winning some of the state wide races was more than a celebration.

Life's a funny thing. When you don't expect something to happen, it does anyways.

A year into their friendship, Colton was killed in a horrible crash. It would have been February the following week, Dave and Brian were going to enter Colton into the Piston Cup.

For the first time, Brian couldn't feel a thing. It was as if the world was blank, there was nothing to it. Nothing seemed alive anymore, everything was gray in appearance.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dave drove down the hallway looking up and down the isles of the hospital. "Brian! There you are! How long have you been here?"

"All night…"

"Any word?"

"No."

Dave drove closer to him and took a better look at him. "Hey, it's okay, he'll be fine, this is just a mistake. He'll get fixed up and it'll be over with, he's gonna come out with a smile, and that'll be the end of it."

"No."

"At least have the decency to look at me when I'm talking to you--"

"Would you stop?!"

"Don't snap at me, I came here so--"

"There was a fire." Brian said weakly.

Dave had a questionable look on his face. "Wait… what?"

"There was a fire…"

Dave's face turned to horror as he put those words together in his head. "You mean…"

"Yeah."

Dave threw himself back in the hallway. "Why didn't you tell me on the phone?!"

"You think that's easy to say?! Right now my best friend is dying! What if he doesn't make it? What do I do then?"

"Out of all the things that could have happened… I don't know what to tell you."

"You could at least be a little more sympathetic. It was horrible, I watched it all go down right in front of me, and there was nothing I could do to help! That kind of stuff messes with your mind, Dave..."

"Someone has to be the strong one here, and don't act like I wasn't good friends with him too!" Brian turned away from him. "Oh, okay, I'm sorry. It's hard for me to comprehend all this, too."

The door that held Colton opened for the first time, a doctor came out to talk to them.

"You here for Colton?" The doctor asked.

"Yeah." Dave said, speaking for Brian who still refused to look anyone in the face.

The doctor sighed and that was all Brian needed to hear, he knew what was coming. He started driving down the hallway to leave.

"Wait, Brian! Come back!" Dave called to him, but it was no use.

"It's best that you let him leave." The doctor told him.

Dave cringed, "How bad is it?"

"He's gone, I'm truly sorry. We did everything that we could but the fire destroyed him completely."

Dave sighed as well, he looked down the hallway at Brian who was staring out a window. "Thanks, for everything, thanks for trying."

"If there is anything else we can do to help, let us know."

The doctor drove back into the room with Colton, Dave started towards Brian. "Hey." There was no response from him. "He's, he's not coming back…"

Brian shut his eyes, Dave waited for him to say something. "They were… supposed to be the best doctors around…"

"They did what they could."

"But it wasn't good enough…"

"Listen, I'm gonna stay here and sort everything else out, you go home… or something."

Brian headed for the doors to leave. "I'm going to a bar."

"But you don't drink." Dave felt helpless, there was nothing he could do or say to him. "Hey! Don't hold this against yourself!"

The double doors swung shut.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Driving down the road to the local bar, Brian saw the town drunkard. An older car by the name of Johnny.

There was nothing to him, he had given up on life a long time ago. He traded in his dignity along with his self-respect for what bars held behind the counter.

Brian stopped and faced Old Johnny as he began to beg cars passing by him for a few extra dollars.

A few months back, Brian remembered the day Colton and him had been brought into the local police department for speeding. It was a regular occurence, something they were charged with every so often.

The last time they had been brought in, Old Johnny sat in one of the corners. He had been charged with being drunk in public, and he was currently be interrogated for other aliases.

Poor Johnny, he could barely answer the questions that the deputy had been asking him all this time.

Brian had been watching this little scenerio from across the room sitting next to Colton, waiting for Dave to get off work so that he could get the cops to release them from their grip.

He began to wonder how someone could stoop so low, become someone so pathetic. Why Old Johnny had given up his life, he thought he'd never know. He wondered how someone could live their life in such misery.

But one day, Brian did ask, and one hell of a sad story had been presented for him. He understood now.

Now, today, sitting across the street from Old Johnny watching as he begged, he remembered the story he was told. He now realized that it wasn't hard to get where he was, and suddenly it didn't seem like such a bad idea.

It seemed so simple, a simple little plan for him to escape reality. Drink all your life, and forget about your problems.

He drove across the street towards where Old Johnny sat. Parking in front of him was the only way to get his attention apprently.

"What do you want, Brian? I'm busy..." Old Johnny growled as he continued to look for cars that might actually spare him some change.

Brian layed out a small roll of cash in front of Old Johnny, it was his weekly pay that Dave had given him two nights before.

"What are you doing?" He asked, curious as the what the young green car was doing.

Brian smiled, he no longer felt sorry for him. "How about you join me for a drink?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Throughout the year of 1950, Brian picked up that horrible drinking habbit. Ever since that day of Colton's news, he drank at the local bar trying to escape old memories.

From that moment on, nothing would be the same. Or at least that was what Brian thought. As far as he was concerned, life was no longer exciting.

Drinking was something he did to escape reality, and avoid his friends. There was nothing to do, and that was that.

He didn't care what anyone had to say to him, and he certainly didn't care what he had to say to them.

Later that day after leaving the hospital, Dave spent time with his wife to tell her the story. Then went to tell the two car pit crew team the bad news.

He found them at the South Carolina Racing Headquarters doing voluntary work to help the national teams. Colton was in the local races, the farthest he's ever traveled for a race was the border of the state.

There wasn't a doubt that this unfortunate thing wasn't going to be in the papers tomorrow.

James and Mason turned around at the sound of an approaching engine. "Dave?" James asked.

Dave slid to a stop in front of the two, "What's going on?"

"It's-- it's Brian, it's Colton!" Dave answered out of breath.

James dropped the box that he was carrying, "What's wrong with them? Are they down at the station this time or what?"

Dave closed his eyes and took a deep breath, "No, I wish…"

"Then tell us already."

"Colt… got into a crash," His voice was hollow and emotionless. Dave paused before he finished his sentence, "He's dead."

James and Mason looked at each other in disbelief, "No, no that's not possible--"

"I just got back from the hospital, it's over…"

James pushed the box in front of him as hard as he could away from him and slammed his tire on the ground, "This can't happen!" James then quieted himself as another horrible thought came to mind, "Wait, how's Brian taking this? Where is he? There's no way he's handling this."

"That's what I was going to tell you next, he went to the bar. He's been gone for three hours. I don't think this'll end very well…"

"Then we've got to find him, make sure he's okay."

The three were about to exit the racing campus when they stopped as fast as they could. Coming up the road was a slow green car staring at the path in front of him, without a care in the world.

"Brian!" Dave yelled, the three raced up to him as he stopped in the middle of the dirt road. "There you are..."

"Where are you going?" James asked him, studying his features.

Brian was officially drunk, even sitting still he rocked back and forth. The sadness in his eyes was deep and painful. "I'm… I'm…"

Brian couldn't finish a sentence, finally Dave drove closer, "Hey, it's gonna be alright, everything's going to be okay--"

"How w-would… you know?" He stuttered.

Dave sat there unsure of what to say, "I, I don't know."

Suddenly, Brian kept driving up the dirt road to the compound.

Dave backed out of his way. "Where are you going?"

"I'm… I'm going t-to resign… from training…"

The three looked at each other, they hadn't expect that one.

The group got in front of Brian to stop him, "You don't know what you're doing, c'mon, let's get you back home. You're drunk…"

Brian pushed Dave out of the way after he tried to turn him around, "No, you don't know what you're doing. Understand? There's nothing left…" Brian finally broke down in tears, sobbing like he wanted to do for the past three hours. He had held it together at the bar so he wouldn't have to explain his situation to Old Johnny, or anyone else at the bar for that matter.

Dave drove around and next to him, "It's going to be alright, I promise."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The day was over, and night time arrived quickly. The season of winter turning the air cold and thin, much like Brian felt.

Dave, being the stronger one of the group, opted to take Brian in an house him in his mansion. No telling what kind of trouble the green car could get himself in at this point in time. He'd feel a whole lot better knowing that his good friend was safe here with him and his wife.

In order for Brian not to take this suggestion the wrong way, he politely asked James and Mason to take the two extra rooms down in the second hallway.

A busy house it was, now holding five cars.

Joanna, Dave's wife, had felt so much remorse and sorrow for Brian. She may have acted tough most of the time, but she rendered herself just as helpless as Brian now.

Rearing around midnight was the time that James and Mason had gathered their stuff to move in with Dave and his wife. They'd do anything for Brian, they held a deep respect for him that would never leave.

The next morning, Brian had been the last one to wake. He slowly drove out into the living room after listening to their conversation in his room.

Luckily for him, he saw that they were all facing away from the hallway where he sat. None of them noticed him yet.

Just then he saw a stack of newspapers in the corner next to him. He looked at the papers, and then back to the group. On the front page was a picture of Colton, with the headlines of words that he dread.

Quickly and quietly, he pulled them over with his tire and disappeared back into his room with them.

"I don't know what we can do, we've said all that we could to him last night…" Joanna said, sighing in discouragement.

"It's all in due time that he'll be himself again." Dave told her, a tire placed on her fender.

Brian reappeared in the hallway, this time he drove all the way into the living room.

The others heard his engine and turned to face him, "Hey, good morning." James said to him in a low whisper.

Brian frowned at him, "What's so good about it?" He headed for the door, they waited to see what he would do. Turning to say one last thing to him, he sighed. "I've got some stuff to do today… now that I can talk. If I find out that any of you are following me, I'll make sure you regret it."

"Wait, where are you going?" Dave asked, approaching him slowly.

"Like I told you, I have stuff to do." Brian opened the door with force, he slammed it shut behind him.

"I figure that he's not as sad, he just hates the world…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was around four o'clock that day when Brian came back to the house.

The first car he came in contact with was Dave. "So where did you go?"

"That's none of your business." He said driving past him trying to go to his room.

"Seriously…"

Brian lashed around, "Seriously? You wanna know where I went?"

"Easy now--"

"No, I'll tell you where I went, I went to the compound and resigned like I planned on doing yesterday. But someone stopped me before I could--"

"You were drunk, what did you want me to do? I wasn't about to let you make an idiot of yourself."

"You should have let me, because then I wouldn't have to remember everyone's face before I left for good! I'm never going back there, it's not easy to ignore everyone's goodbyes. You don't know what that's like."

"Apparently not! So why don't you explain it to me?" If Brian wanted to play this game, so could he.

"How _rude_ can you get?"

"You snapped on me first!" Dave yelled in protest.

"No one will ever know how_ screwed up _this is! So shut up, and stay out of my business." The fury in Brian once more gaining a level.

"You know you're going to need us some time down the line. You can't make it on your own!"

James, Mason, and Joanna heard the commotion and entered the room.

"By the way, I also went to hospital today… I went and got me a restrictor plate." Brian turned around and headed for his room. He had gotten one because he was now afraid of speed, and everything it meant.

He was now living on the idea that speed was bad news, when really it was all coinidence that Colton's accident happened. Brian didn't see that something like that could happen at any time.

Dave sighed, that had been devastating news. "Brian, I'm so sorry, but there is only so much I can say in this situation."

"Then keep the rest to yourself, I don't need your pity." Brian's bedroom door slammed shut, no one heard from him the rest of the day.

That hurt Dave, what had he done to deserve this? All he was doing was trying to protect Brian from making the mistake of his life. Bad things happened to cars who drank for a living, why would he waste his life when he had so much to live for?

That's the day where Dave and Brian's friendship hasn't been the same. It was really the fact that Brian felt trapped in by everyone. Surrounded by memories of Colton, being around his friends made it worse.

Try living like that for a year.

One night, Dave had enough of this, and decided to confront Brian. It was edging onto 1951, Brian had been sulking for too long. He was bringing down everyone with him, enough was enough.

He decided to confront him about it when he came home from the bar. "You can't keep living like this Brian, it's not good for you."

Brian sighed, "No, I'm fine with it. I've realized that reality sucks and it's okay for someone to live on what I do. It's no big deal…"

"I won't have you do this, we're tired of seeing depressed like this all the time. For once, stay home and have a conversation with us." He whispered so that he wouldn't wake the others in his household.

"It's too late for that Dave. Listen, I appreciate you trying to help me, but it's over."

Dave laughed unintentionally. "What do you mean _over_? You've got a long way to go pal! Think about what you're saying here, this doesn't sound like you at all."

"I haven't sounded like myself in a long time. Do yourself a favor and go back to bed..." Brian drove past Dave leaving him there in the living room.

Dave didn't know what to do, he was running out of options.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

February 1951 was right around the corner, the start of the new Piston Cup series would be here soon. On the first week of February, Dave decided to go down the South Carolina Racing Headquarters.

He was on his way in to the main office when a particular car caught his eye. He ignored what he was supposed to do and drove over to the track on his left.

On that small track was a blue car.

Pulling up to the rail, he watched this car with complete concentration. Studying everything about him. H listened to his engine, when and how he turned, and most of all, his power on the track. Dave had learned quite a few things about racing from Brian when he was training Colton, he now knew what to look for in racers.

He thought a minute, then it hit him. He smiled at his own diabolical plan. "This is exactly what Brian needs…"

He saw that this new guy had a good chance of making it into the racing business. He waved him down and got his attention. Finally the blue car slowed to a stop in front of Dave. "Whatcha doing kid?"

"I was just practicing, sir."

"Oh, you have team do you?"

"No sir, I'm here by myself. I plan on applying for a position soon, just have to get the courage too." The car laughed.

Dave smiled, this was it. This was going to be his car. "Tell you what, how'd you like to get sponsored today?"

The car's eyes shot up in surprise, "You mean it?"

"I sure do. You may not know me, but I've been the manager of cars all around, and I don't just pick anyone out to sponsor. What's your name, kid?"

"Hudson, Hudson Hornet."

"Alright Hudson, you wait right here while I go make a phone call."

"Thank you so much, you don't know how much this means to me."

"No, the pleasure is all mine." Dave headed for the main office to call James.

Inside, Dave was explaining the situation to James. "Yeah, you wouldn't believe it. I found someone for Brian to train."

"What's he like?"

"His power is great, but he'll need lots of work…"

"No no, not that, his personality." James stated.

"I was just getting to that."

"Uh-huh. So what's he like?"

"Exactly like Colton." He said with the smoothest voice possible. He may have just met him, but enough had been learned.

"You're kidding." James said in denial.

"Nope, I'm not. If you could just con Brian into coming down to the track, I'm sure he'll say yes."

"What makes you so sure?"

"Because, he won't be able to say no to an old friend."

Dave hung up the phone, knowing that Brian wouldn't resist his curiosity as to what could be waiting for him at the racing compound.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian and Dave watched as Doc drove around a small inclined dirt track. "So, what do you think? You'll train him?" Dave could only hope that he would change his mind about training someone again after all that had happened.

"What you say his name was again?"

Dave looked down at the papers in front of him, "Hudson Hornet." He read to Brian who had sighed. Dave was discouraged by the sigh, "Listen, I know you're still thinking about the Colton incident, but give this a try. C'mon, you need this."

Brian rolled his eyes, "Has he raced before?"

"Nope, you've gotta start from scratch. Exactly the way you need him, completely ignorant."

There was a moment of silence between them as Dave waited for Brian's answer. "We'll register him tomorrow, from there on in, he's my project… you got that?"

Dave perked up, "You'll train him?"

"I guess…"

"Oh, great, wait till I tell the team you'll go through with it. They'll be happy to hear this."

Brian turned to Dave, "The team already knows about this guy?"

"I talked to them about it before I came to you."

Brian scoffed, "I'm doing this because this is my job… not to make everything right again, understand?"

Dave gathered the papers up, "This will be just like old times."

"Just go get him for me, so I can talk to him."

Dave drove away to the track in front of them where Doc was. Brian was pleased with what he had seen, but he needed to know what the car was like in order to train him properly.

Dave drove back to Brian with Doc by his side. "Hudson, this is your new trainer, this is Brian."

Doc smiled at him, unsure of what to say to the strict looking car in front of him. "Alright, since we are going to be partners this season, I want you to know that I will boss you around. I will be telling you what to do and you will be under my command. Is that clear?"

"Yes sir."

"If you can't handle capital letter words then let me know now so that isn't discovered later."

Dave leaned in closer to Brian, "Try not to scare the kid away."

"Would you hush?" Brian turned his attention back to Doc, "To be in this sport you've got to be tough. I'm not only going to teach you about racing, I'll be teaching you about life. The way it works and the way it goes."

"Brian…" Dave pressured.

"You'll learn that life isn't fair. That life has it's perks, ups and downs and all-arounds."

"Brian…" Dave asked again.

"What?" He snapped.

"Don't be so overwhelming."

"Who's the trainer here? I thought we had an agreement?"

Doc looked at Brian who was a bit angry, his eyes met Brian's for the final time today.

"Tomorrow," Brian said with a dying voice, "We'll register you and get everything done. But for now, go home and get some rest."

Brian turned around to get back to his own place at Dave's after he made his point clear that he wanted no nonsense. He had made his big entrance and decided to leave it at that.

Doc pulled up next to Dave, "Did I do something?"

Dave laughed. "Oh, no, you'll have to excuse him. This is a big leap for him as well. Come tomorrow, he won't be as edgy. But he's right, we should get going for the night. We'll meet you back here at noon."

Dave drove off to catch up with Brian, Doc sat there for a little while longer.

Having his little victory fit, he was glad to know that he had a shot with the racing business, and he was going to make the best of it. Tomorrow... couldn't come soon enough for him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"I'm telling you, you treated him like he was getting ready to go into war." Dave said flatly.

"That's not your problem. I told you he was my project."

"Yeah, and I was hoping you wouldn't make that kid second guess this situation. I need someone to sponsor on the track, alright? This isn't just for you to get yourself back together. I'd be surprised if the kid actually showed up after what you said to him."

"Oh, so he is just for me. Is that it? You think I needed someone to train? I told you Dave, I'm fine."

"No you're not. Now tomorrow you'll sign those papers and train him." Dave told him, driving on up ahead.

Brian may not have been happy with the fact that he was being told to train, but at the same time he was thankful. He knew this was for the best and that it was time he gave life a second chance. He may have not had the courage to start again, and because of that, he was grateful that someone else did it for him.


	3. Chapter 2

**CHAPTER TWO**

He sat there in his room staring at a picture of Colton.

The picture had been taken right after his first win. It was a local race, with a little more over twenty cars entering.

The black and white photo of Colton reminded Brian of himself. The picture's scenery comparing to his; the cold feeling of February's dying winter.

Everything about the picture screamed panic, it shouted the torture of a forgotten memory. The world may have forgotten Colton, the town may have, but not Brian.

But in the middle of the picture sat a joyful youngster. His bright smile changing the mood of the picture from gloom to hope.

Brian flipped to the next picture. The two of them seemed to be laughing at something off in the distance. The news reporter had caught them off guard and took the picture without their consult.

Two lives that never experienced something dramatic before found out the hard way that life could be much more harsh. Only for Brian, he had to live through it; conquor it.

He wasn't ready to give that life up. He wasn't ready to start being serious and responsible. Immature and rude had been the two's secondary occupation. But when it came to racing, nothing could be more serious to them. THe only time the two weren't smiling was before the race, mapping out the situation and other racer's weaknesses.

Brian quickly turned the page, that picture bringing up far too many good times and memories at once.

The third and final picture being one with Colton and his girlfriend. She was a pretty little Ford that also had a knack for racing.

Stacy was another thing Colton had left behind after his death. She choose not to be in contact with Colton's life afterwards, she couldn't bring herself to.

The more Brian thought about it, Stacy moved away. He had considered moving as well, but he didn't have the nerve to leave this life he led now. Starting over wasn't an option.

Brian growled softly, this wasn't right. Colton shouldn't have died, he was too young. In fact, Brian wasn't sure how he had made it away from the wreck unharmed.

But still, he felt as if he should have died as well. Life just didn't feel that it was worth living in if everything he knew as that feeling of completion began to cave in and fall apart.

He slammed the racing record book up and drove over to his closet to put it away. This wasn't right, everything felt screwed up. Brian had been a contributor to all this nonsense this past year.

Colton shouldn't have died, he shouldn't have. He felt like it was his fault that Colton died, he had taken him up on the race that ended his life.

Stupid, he thought, you messed up _everyone's_ lives.

He drove back to where he was sitting in his room before and turned on his lamp near the corner. He reversed and parked beneath his window so he could continue to rethink the situation.

It was already over a year since Colton's death, and yet to Brian, that fact hadn't hit him full blown. It was amazing just how fast the true meaning of happiness could be revealed.

The door to his room slowly creaked open. Dave popped in the doorway. "Hey, you alright? You've been quiet ever since we got back from the headquarters."

Brian looked out his window. The sun had gone down a long time ago, once again bringing back the emptiness of winter. "Yeah, I'm fine."

Dave wasn't convinced, but he didn't try to get any further answers. He had gotten Brian to agree to training, that was enough. "Well, everyone was just wondering why you weren't heading down to the bar. It's getting late."

Brian looked at his clock, it _was_ getting late. Although that didn't matter. Coming home from the track earlier, he decided to get himself together. If he was going to start training again, things had to get better.

"I'm not going." He stated simply, driving up to Dave.

He backed out of his doorway as Brian slammed the door on him. The light from the lamp glowing, shining brightly underneath the door showing a large form pacing back and forth inside.

Brian, giving up drinking? Dave laughed lightly, "Yeah, that'll be the day..."

He drove back to the living room going to find his wife, Joanna. This little change wouldn't last very long.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian woke up the next morning pretty much grumpy like he always does. To his surprise, he was a little eager to get down to the South Carolina Racing Headquarters.

Brian and Dave met up with Doc at the campus exactly at twelve o'clock.

Doc watched as two very dignified looking cars he met showed up at the entrance in front of the tree line. He saw them look around, then they found him.

Dave drove up to him first. "Good afternoon, you ready to go get signed up?"

"More than you know." He was entirely scared. Here he sat, completely oblivious and naive. In front of him, two cars you didn't mess with. Well, maybe one you could piss off. But Brian, nobody dared.

Brian pulled up in front of Doc, "This is how it goes, there are three stages. One, registering, two, health collection, and three, the speech."

The three headed into the main office to sign themselves up as a team. Dave signed himself as the main manager, Brian as co-ownership and full time trainer. Doc signed himself as theirs and into the Piston Cup.

Brian leaned into Dave to whisper something. "Do you think he can handle that? I mean the Piston Cup?"

"I'm sure, as long as you're training him, he'll do fantastic."

They returned their attention back to the car behind the desk who was talking to Doc. "Now if you'll just tell me your engine, we'll send you on to the next room."

In order to be in NASCAR, there has to be more than three types of the same engine in the circuit for it to be fair.

Doc looked at Brian and Dave, they shrugged. "Don't look at us, we don't know."

Doc told the clerk his engine type. "Straight Six…"

The clerk flipped through some files and finally looked at Doc. "You're in luck, four other cars have that engine. If you'll just wait over there by the second door, they'll take care of you next."

Doc drove away from the desk and down the hallway.

Dave and Brian stayed behind, "Why don't you go wait with him, he doesn't want to be alone."

"No one wants to be alone, Dave…"

"Stop trying to sound smart, go sit next to him or something."

Brian reluctantly drove away from Dave and up to Doc who was busy surveying the stuff around him. "Hey…" He said to him shutting off his engine.

Doc smiled at him, he was still afraid of saying something stupid to him.

"You alright?"

"Yes sir."

Brian sighed, "You don't have to say _sir_ anymore."

Just then the door to room number two opened, and Doc was called in. "See you when you get out." Brian turned around to go back to Dave.

"Did you tell him what they were going to do?"

"Hell no."

Dave laughed, "Anyways, what do you want to do until he gets out?"

"I don't care."

Dave smiled, "Thanks for giving this a chance."

Brian turned to him and looked him in the eyes, "What are you talking about?"

"You know what I'm talking about…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The three, once Doc was done with room two, headed to room three.

Dave, Brian and Doc drove into a good sized room. Where many other new racers, their managers and owners, waited for the speaker.

They pulled up in the back and parked next to each other. No one seemed to notice them, Brian was happy with that response.

Just then a car drove in by himself, he stopped quickly when he notice Brian and Dave. "Brian! Glad to see you're back. How you been?"

"I've been doing good, what about yourself, George?"

"Great, who you training now?" Mr. Harris asked leaning over to look at Doc, he smiled at him unsure of what to say. "What's your name, son?"

"Hudson."

All the other trainers and managers looked towards the back to see what the commotion was all about. Brian didn't like the attention, some of them he knew from two years ago.

"Hudson? Nice to meet you, I'm sure you have lots of potential. I say that because Brian doesn't just train anyone." Mr. Harris looked at the clock, "Well, if you'll excuse me, I have a schedule to keep."

Dave and Brian said goodbye to him as he drove off to his podium.

The three watched as he turned around and parked at the top of a stand to start his speech. "Good afternoon, I just want to start off by saying good luck to everyone this year. I know most of you are new, so pay close attention."

Halfway through, Doc looked over at Dave and Brian who seemed not to care. "… that includes drinking, racers are not allowed what so ever to drink before or during the race. Racers are not allowed to drink all season or orders will be carried out. A mandatory test will be taken on race day to prove whether or not that contestant has or had been drinking. If a racer has drank, that car will be disqualified for the remainder of the season. Misconduct and misbehavior will not be tolerated. Appropriate actions are to be made in any situation during the season. Exchange of words or actions in a race will be dealt with by officials."

Mr. Harris looked away from the papers he was reading, "Gentlemen, I say this with deep respect for this sport, you are out here to prove something to yourself. Finish what you started on you guys' own time, away from the track. Don't make an idiot of yourself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Outside of the main office, they sat there together. "Okay, now that you heard that speech, you ready for mine?"

"Yes sir."

Brian lost his expression, "You gotta stop with the _sir_."

"Okay…"

"First off, safety hazards. Don't bring something on the track when you're racing without my consult. Second, no drinking. If I found out that you did have a drink during anytime in the week, I'll whoop you before you get disqualified. Third, no verbal connection between you and the other racers. You're not out there to make friends, but at the same time, be nice. I'm not telling you to let other cars pass you with a smile thinking that they'd do the same for you, you're out there to be the best you can. Be assertive, but don't be a prick about it. If you can make magic happen out there on the track, take advantage of it, and at the same time plan out something."

Brian paused to take a breath.

"So when you're out there and you don't want to be rude about doing something, forget about it. Because any good racer knows the true meaning of being one, they automatically know that the other racer is doing that for a reason. Speaking of jerks, if you come across one on the track, don't plan revenge. You got that? Don't plan revenge, you aren't out there for that. It's mainly the new ones that do that, that's why I'm telling you now. If I catch you doing anything of the sort, I myself, will take you out of the race. Trust me, you don't want that kind of humiliation. When the race is over, I'm going to talk to that car that you were exacting revenge on so that kind of little incident doesn't happen again."

Brian smirked at Dave, "Besides, the cars you'll be racing with will be around you for a long time, don't make enemies. I'm not trying to be mean here, but doing that kind of stuff adds to your reputation. That is if you get one… Anyways, if you do something, everyone sees it. The officials, the cameramen, and especially the crowd. So be smart and let it go, talk to him afterwards if you must…"

"Just to let you know, kid, Brian will have you memorize stuff later on." Dave told him.

"See this is why he's the best trainer. I'm lucky to have you." Doc said, nodding towards Brian.

"Don't be a suck up…"

"Honestly I'm not."

Doc watched as a big group of fancy racers drove by, along with their managers and trainers. "Where are they going?" He asked.

Brian and Dave pulled up next to Doc as they were driving to the other end of the campus. "They, are going to go practice."

Most of the managers and trainers looked back at Brian, there had been much talk about him since he stopped training January of 1950.

Doc started to drive along with them when Brian stopped him, "Where do you think you're going?"

"I thought you said that we're training today?"

"That I did. So where are you going?"

"To practice with them?"

Dave and Brian laughed, "Oh, no, not with them. They're veterans in the circuit, you start over there."

Doc turned around and saw a somewhat smaller track with a couple of cars driving on it. It looked like go-carts to him.

He felt degraded by Brian, "You said I had potential…"

"I sure did, but that doesn't mean you're ready to race with the best of the best. C'mon, let's get over there before they start the next run."

Dave and Brian started to leave, Doc stayed. "Please don't put me over there. I'm telling you, I'll beat those guys."

"I don't doubt you, never did. Don't be difficult Hudson."

"He's right," Dave said, "Give this a chance."

"Can you give me a chance with them over there, just this once? I know I have the power." Doc insisted.

"Again, Brian doesn't doubt you, so--"

"No, Dave, let's give this a shot…" Brian drove up to Doc, "You wanna try racing with them?"

"Sure do, I'd like to try."

"Then get over there before last call." Brian told him.

With in an instant, Doc turned around to meet up with the Piston Cup racers.

Dave pulled up next to Brian, "What are you doing?"

"Just follow me." Brian said before driving off to the main track.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian and Dave headed for the booths where the other trainers were going to watch the race.

Many of them noticed Brian before they saw the blue car pull up next to their own down at the track. "Brian?" One of them asked.

"How you doing?" He didn't bother looking at them. He pulled away from them to watch Doc down below.

Brian didn't want a conversation with the others, he wasn't there to talk to them about his absence around the campus. The others soon picked up on his tone and decided to drop that upcoming conversation.

"So, that one down there, he yours?"

"Yep."

The other trainers drove closer to the window, "What's he doing?"

"He wanted to practice with them…"

"Teaching him a lesson, huh?"

"Oh yeah."

The trainers laughed amongst themselves, eager to see how Brian's rookie would do.

Everyone watched as the flag was dropped, it wasn't long before Doc was having trouble.

Brian laughed to himself watching the scene play before him. Doc was getting cut off, bumped around, and trapped in.

Brian could see that the dust impaired Doc's vision most of the time, even when he did get out of the dust, he lost control when he got confused.

"He's struggling… shouldn't you pull him out of there, Brian?" The same trainer asked.

"Why? It was his idea."

"Don't you think that by letting him do this, he'll no longer want to race?"

"He's just getting a taste of what the real thing is like. Right now he's probably staying in their to prove something to me. He doesn't want to quit and tell me that I was right. He's trying not to look like an idiot, but it's too late."

"You're not going to taunt him after the race about this are you, Brian?"

"Of course not, that wouldn't be right…" Brian was a respectable trainer, probably the best one throughout the states. He was well known.

It was the end of lap two and Doc was already fading back. Nearing the finish line, he came in dead last.

Driving out of the booth, Dave and Brian met up with a very embarrassed Doc. "I am _so_ sorry…"

"For what? You did better than I expected." Brian told him with honesty.

"Oh, so coming in last place is better than… what?"

"At least you didn't drop out."

"Just as long as this is never brought up again, I'll do what ever you tell me." Doc said, trying to avoid the snickers of the other racers.

"You might want to tell that to the other trainers… anyways, let's go back to the other track I had in mind earlier, and I'll talk to you through the radio on what to do. How's that?"

"Anything is better than going back there and facing those guys…"

Dave sat there as Brian and Doc drove to the other track. He listened to Brian lecture him about racing. "… You were shifting too soon, get the most power you can out of yourself before you take down another position…"

Dave smiled, "And so the story repeats itself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc started up his engine and drove out on the track with the others. He immediately picked up their pace and moved along beside them.

"Can you hear me?" Brian asked through the radio.

"Yes."

"Okay, good, that's the only word that I want out of you for the rest of the time you're on this run. Just listen to me and do what I say."

The green flag was dropped and everyone sped off. In first gear, Doc took the first counter steer turn beautifully.

"Not bad… but could you do that with others beside you?"

Doc kept going, he tried catching up to the others on the straightaway but he switched gears too late.

"You see? That's what happens. Next time you hear your engine start to repeat itself, switch gears…"

Doc surged foward. Entering turn two, he met up with the others as they downshifted to gear one.

"Easy kid."

But Doc didn't listen, he kept himself in second gear and flew past the cars in the back. Nearly running them over, he ran himself into the wall to avoid hitting them. He regained control and tried catching up to the others again.

"That wasn't too smart. Don't be so aggressive on trying to pass them."

The group was now coming into triple turns, the part of the course that required three different types of maneuvering in order to go to the homestretch.

"Don't even think about trying to pass them here. Everyone stays where they are, it's just how it goes..."

Doc kept his place as he followed the others, learning the movement of the turns. They rounded the last of the triple turns and into the straightaway.

"You'll hit third gear here, this is where you need to be on the ball in switching in order to gain ground."

Halfway through second gear, Doc was no longer in last place. He took control of 5th place nearing the first turn of the track.

"Nice, keep going. Keep control here and you'll do fine. There are two more laps, can you handle that?"

Doc smiled, and that was all Brian needed to see.

"Hope you're having fun… don't look so stressed."

Second turn was approaching fast, Doc switched back down to first gear.

"Good job. I can see you're learning…"

Doc saw an opening, he was going to take 4th place when the car in front of him blocked him off. Doc tapped his brakes, sending mixed messages to the cars behind him.

Brian immediately told him otherwise, "Don't use your brakes unless you plan on coming to a stop on the track, you hear me?" Brian sighed, "When you do that, the other racers get distracted. This track doesn't use brakes."

The pack came to the triple turns again, Doc kept his place just like before, but this time in 5th place.

"Okay, after the straightaway, on the first turn, take the car in front of you down. Take the next position by passing him on the inside, just trust me. He's weak there, he won't be able to stop you."

It was now last lap. On the home stretch, Doc drove side by side with the 4th place car. As everyone started to slide into turn one and counter steer, Doc dove down to the inside of the track. He became 4th place heading out of turn one.

"Wonderful…"

Turn two, Doc was busy keeping the car he just passed at bay.

"He's going to want that spot back. Don't forget that he's back there, but don't forget to pay attention to what you're doing."

The triple turns were only seconds away, this was Doc's chance to relax while following the three in front of him.

"Mind your gears…" Brian said hearing his engine over the radio.

"This is it, last turn, give it all you've got."

Doc gunned it rounded the final turn. He was gaining on the car in front of him, just barely, he made it into third place.

"Alright, good job. Bring yourself back up here and we'll talk."

Doc exited the track along with the others, he met up with Brian and Dave. "Can we do it again?"

Brian smiled, "I think you've done enough for today. Congrats on third. If we were on a four turn track, you would have smoked them. But on this little track, it's not the engine, it's smarts."

Brian started to drive away, Dave was following when Doc stopped him. "Hey, do you think I could have done just as well with the Piston Cup racers if Brian had been talking to me?"

Dave turned back and looked at him. He knew the answer, but he wasn't going to tell Doc. "Well, we'll just have to see, now won't we?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Dave and Doc drove ahead to catch up with Brian. They noticed him talking to James and Mason.

They pulled up next to Brian.

"We wanted to meet the new guy." James told Brian, turning his attention to the blue car.

Doc pulled away from behind Dave to see who wanted him, he had overheard them. "Hi, I'm Hudson."

"Nice to meet you, I'm James, and this is Mason. We'll be your crew for this season. You'll meet Joanna soon enough, but anyways…"

Brian scoffed, he didn't want to be apart of this reunion. He drove off to one of the tracks to see what Doc was up against this season.

"Well, the way we see it, Brian has three weeks to get you ready for the Piston Cup, you excited?"

Doc could only nod.

"We've heard so much about you, we'll have to show you around sometime."

Once again, Doc nodded.

While Mason was talking to Doc, James and Dave started their own conversation. "What do you think, James?"

"Another Colton…"

"Mhmm. I wouldn't be surprised if one of us accidentally called him that name too."

"Yeah, especially around Brian. Once he starts hanging out with Brian, he'll be a little bit more outgoing and braver."

"He gave Hudson a taste of his own medicine without even trying."

"Oh, you mean racing?"

"Sure do."

The two decided to invite Doc over tonight, "How about you come and meet Joanna?" Dave asked.

"If that's alright with her."

"Sure it is, we'll go get Brian and we'll head out of here."

Dave found Brian and they went on back to his house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Joanna was busy trying to make everyone feel at home. She loved talking to Doc and getting to know him.

Sitting in the living room of Dave's house, Doc was the center of attention. Although he could only think up short answers in response to what ever they asked him.

Without a goodbye, the front door opened and Brian left. He was disgusted with the way things were going, it was reminding him too much of old times.

"Where's he going?" Doc asked, thinking he said something wrong.

"Oh, he's going to the bar. He does that every night…" Joanna told him.

"What for?"

Dave decided to help out with that explanation. "Just an old habit that he can't kick."

"Why not tag along with him tonight, Hudson?"

"Joanna, are you crazy?" Dave aked, staring at her in disbelief.

"What? It'd be a good way for them to get to know each other…"

"Fine, it was your idea if he asks..."

"So I should go?" Doc asked, looking at the two of them.

"Yeah, go catch him before he disappears..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc followed a pair of distant taillights. "Brian?" He asked pulling up next to him.

"Kid, what are you doing?"

"The others said that I should spend time with you."

"Did they now?"

"Is that okay?"

"I guess I don't have a choice."

Doc felt a little discouraged, mostly like some stupid tag-along. "If you don't want me to go, I'll head back. To tell you the truth, I'm just trying to be friends with you."

Doc stopped on the road and let Brian drive ahead. He felt bad for leaving Doc out, so Brian turned around to face him, "Alright, when we get to the bar, don't talk to anyone else. If someone bothers you, let me handle it. Remember, no drinks…"

Doc smiled, "I can come?"

"Let's go before the good spots are taken."

The two kept driving, Doc felt a little better about the situation.

"So tell me, what got you interested in the racing business?" Brian asked without looking at him.

"I thought it would be a good thing for me to do. It seems like a fantastic sport."

"That it is, that it is."

"What's so great about this bar you go to?"

Brian laughed, "It's the only one around for fifty miles."

"What inspired this habit of yours?"

There was a slight pause, but Brian soon filled in the silence gap. "Tried it and never stopped."

Which was mainly true, but not the real reason.

"That's too bad, I heard it's a horrible thing to get started on."

"Depends on who you are."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the house, the only thing that everyone talked about was Brian and Doc.

"I know that Brian isn't completely oblivious to the situation," James said, "He has a gist of the future and he either likes it, or he doesn't."

"We'll find out out answer whether or not Hudson comes back early tonight or not." The others agreed to Dave's statement. "It's been a long year for Brian, he's gone through a lot."

They talked for a little bit longer before they decided to go to bed.

All the way until eleven o'clock that night, Dave stayed up awake. Waiting for the front door to finally open.

When it did, he listened for Brian to close his door. Dave's done this every night for more than a year, all to make sure that Brian came home safely.

He sighed and fell asleep knowing he would have to repeat this procedure tomorrow night. Dave thinks about talking to Brian about it, but at this rate, another argument would only do more damage.


	4. Chapter 3

**CHAPTER THREE**

It truly wasn't long before Brian and Doc were good friends. Doc never did go back to the bar with Brian after that one night, it wasn't where he should be.

As a result, the compound is where everything happened, and that's where the two spent their time. Only two weeks left before the debut, and Doc was under a lot of pressure feeling the heat from his rivals.

Brian watched as a Piston Cup racer drove by Doc with a sneer. He pulled up next to Doc, "They don't take kindly to rookies. But don't worry, they won't bother you."

Just then, Mr. Harris joined them after listening to Brian and Doc's quick statement. "Yeah, they won't bother you because they know who your trainer is. How you doing boys?"

The two turned to face Mr. Harris, "We're doing fine, what about yourself?"

"Doing alright I guess. Just figured I'd do a routine check of the campus before this upcoming weekend."

Mr. Harris was not only one of the leaders in the National Racing Associations, he owned the South Carolina Racing Headquarters. "How's training coming along, Hudson?"

Doc was caught off guard by the question as he watched the others practice, "Oh, it's doing good, right Brian?"

"Sure sure. He'll be ready by race day."

That comment put a smile on Doc's face, support was what he needed. A lot of talk was going around about him, and many were excited to see him race. The last cars that he'd want to disappoint were his friends.

Doc sighed as he looked around at the campus around him. He then looked at the horizon in front of him where the sun was setting. "How many other cars am I going against this season?"

Brian thought a minute, then he answered, "A lot."

"Well that sure helped…"

Doc wasn't afraid to be sarcastic with Brian anymore. He knew him enough to know that not much offended him easily. Although he was still weary around the others.

"Most of the ones included in this season don't practice here. Some of them come late at night."

"Which is either really stupid or really dumb." Mr. Harris stated.

"How do you figure?" Brian asked, turning to face him. "Maybe the owners have some good drivers and they don't want everyone else to know what they are up against."

"Good point."

"You know, you should really spend time around the track instead of organizing all those files inside the office all day long." Brian teased.

"It's called a job…"

"Yeah, and you have other cars for that."

"Okay, enough."

"I win."

"For now."

Brian and Mr. Harris laughed lightly before they got serious again.

"Well, it was nice talking to you two again, but I've got to get home. I'll see you two on Monday." Mr. Harris turned around and headed for the main road.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Driving back home, Doc and Brian had been quiet the whole time.

Finally, Brian spoke up, "What's bothering you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Something's wrong…"

Doc banked from left to right on the road, "I don't know, do you really think I'm ready for racing?"

"Hudson, no one is really ready for racing. It's all about how much effort you put into it. Why, you scared?"

Doc wanted to keep what pride he had, "No, no I'm not scared…" He insisted.

Brian looked him up and down from the corner of his vision. "Uh-huh."

"Okay, fine, I am nervous."

Brian smiled, "Listen, if you can handle some dust in your face and some dents, you'll do great."

"You make it sound easy. Did you use to race?"

Brian pondered that question, he then remembered all those times he challenged Colton to quick, harmless races. "You could say that…"

"Wanna race back home?"

Doc started to drive ahead when Brian called out to him, "Not to night kid, how about another night?"

"Oh, you worried that you might lose?" Doc asked teasing him.

Brian rolled his eyes, "Don't even…"

Doc sensed his defensiveness on the subject, he decided to back off before Brian got mad at him. "Sorry."

Brian sighed, "Don't be sorry." He began thinking about how much he loved speed, how much he missed it. Then he thought about how speed was his enemy, how it nearly destroyed him. "If anyone is sorry, it should be me…" Brian said to himself.

"What was that?" Doc asked driving closer.

"Nothing, don't worry about it."

Doc and Brian pulled up in front of the house. "You go ahead and get inside and tell everyone how your day went. Tell them that I went to the bar."

Doc stopped Brian before he took off for the night. "You sure you have to leave tonight?"

Brian looked at him sincerely, "I'm keeping to my schedule."

Doc thought about his words while he turned to leave. He watched his taillights disappear around the corner. He thought about stopping by the bar later that night after talking to Dave and the others about the day.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc backed out of the bar, an angry Brian was in front of him.

Outside of the bar by the street, he confronted him. "Why would you do that?"

"I just wanted to see if you were really there."

"What are you talking about? Why wouldn't I be where I said I would?"

"I don't know, it's just you always act like you've got someone to meet up with. Someone more important than us."

Brian sat there a second and stared him down, "You think that I'm ditching you guys?" Doc was silent, he took that as a yes. "First off, I've gone to this bar every night for a year. Second, I don't want you at this bar incase an official happens to be here that night. Do you know how much trouble you could get in for being here?"

"I thought you only got in trouble if you drank?"

"Hudson, every race official will say anything he can to get a racer disqualified."

"That's not right."

"The world isn't right, so what are you going to do about it?"

"Okay, I'm sorry. Now you hate me…"

Brian scoffed, "I don't hate you, I can't hate you. Especially over something like this."

"So what do I do? Go home?"

"I certainly don't want you hanging out around here. This place isn't safe enough to begin with."

"Then why are _you_ here?"

"Because, it's the only bar in town like I told you. Now go home before I have to leave here myself and take you home."

"Alright, I'm leaving…"

"Don't take this personally."

Doc turned around and merged onto the nearest road home. Brian watched him leave, "We'll talk about this tomorrow!" He yelled.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Doc drove over to Dave's house to get Brian. Today was the last day to practice before their day off.

Inside Dave's house, he was greeted by him first. "Oh, good morning."

"Is Brian up yet?"

"I'm afraid not."

From the hallway, there was a voice, "Alright, let's get going…" Brian complained. "Next time don't slam the door…"

Dave and Doc looked at each other, then back at Brian. "What's your problem?"

Brian headed for the door, "I don't have a problem." He opened the door and drove to the road.

Doc sat there and stared at the ground, "I hope he still isn't mad at me."

Dave turned to him, "What do you mean _mad_?"

Doc was hesitant, but then he finally spoke, "Last night I went down to the bar to see if he was really there all this time. I had a feeling that he wasn't."

"Oh, he wouldn't stay mad at you for that... but anyways, go ahead and meet him at the campus. According to what we just saw, he won't be very patient today."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So what are we doing?" Doc asked Brian who was studying how the other racers were doing.

"You're just going to run until you can't run anymore."

Doc looked at him questionably, "What's the point in that?"

"Just to see how long you could, you need to be pushed to the limit every once in a while."

"Brian, we've been here everyday for the past week, I'm tired."

"So?" He asked driving away from Doc to one of the back tracks.

"That means I'd like a break." Brian stopped himself quickly and gave Doc a look. He realized the way he had said that to Brian, he immediately helped out his situation, "Please?"

Brian smirked at him, "We'll see."

He continued driving and Doc caught up to him to talk to him. "So how would I earn a break?"

"Saturdays are race days. No racer gets a break on race day."

"But I've practiced all week, and racers get a whole week off before the next race."

"That break is so that they can travel around the United States to the next race. Besides, racing in the Piston Cup puts not only physical stress on you, but mental as well."

Doc grew quiet as he thought about how much work had to be done these next two weeks.

Brian looked at him for a quick second, "Stop complaining and we'll see about that break you want…"

He drove on ahead to find someone Doc could shadow on the track they were going to. Doc was happy that Brian might actually consider giving him a chance to relax. He smiled and headed for the track along with Brian.

On a small, nicely packed down dirt track, Doc was told to follow one of the compound volunteers. The volunteer knew the plan and what his job was. "Don't go easy on him." Brian told him before Doc arrived. His job was to throw every trick he had at Doc while he followed him.

Warming up, Brian was talking to Doc through the radio. "You're not going to pass that car until the final lap, on the last turn. All you'll be doing is copying his every move."

The go ahead was given to Doc and the volunteer on the track to start the run.

The first turn went good. As the car slid softly into it, Doc was right behind him. This run would take everything Brian taught him this week.

After five laps around the tight track, Doc took the lead on the last turn like was asked of him.

He drove up to Brian who was looking at the stop watch. "You could have done better."

"Better?" Doc whined.

Brian corrected him, "What I tell you about complaining?" Doc apologized. "Ready for the next round?"

Doc and Brian both drove up to a track all the way to the right of the compound. The same track that Dave spotted Doc driving on that one day. "I love this track." Doc told him.

Brian was quick with response, "You'll hate it when we're done."

"Why?"

"Get on the track, then I'll tell you."

Doc did what he was told and waited for Brian's instructions as he parked next to the railing. "Okay, when I say go, you're going to slam on that accelerator for 60 full laps on this track. That means that you don't let up, and if I find out that you're just cruising along, you'll do another 60 laps."

Doc sighed, "Alright, what ever you say."

When Brian said go, Doc took off. Halfway through, he started to become discouraged. "Don't you give up Hudson!" Brian yelled at him as he zoomed by.

A few more laps and Doc was agitated at how long this was taking. On the back stretch, he started his sentence on the third turn. "How many laps is that?!" He asked.

Brian waited for him to come back by him again. "I don't know I'm not the one counting!"

Entering turn one, Doc slammed on his brakes. He backed up all the way to where Brian sat, "What?!"

Brian laughed, "I'm just kidding, you were on lap 56. Although, since you did good, I'll give you the rest of the day off."

Brian turned to leave hoping that Doc would do the same, he didn't budge from where he turned off his engine. "I'm too tired to move."

Even though it was mid February, working out that hard in the afternoon practically over-heated Doc.

Brian looked at the compound around him, "You can either stay out here, or sit in the lobby." He continued on his way to the main office. Doc sighed and slowly exited the inclined track.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Doing what you just did helps prepare you for the real thing. It's not about going as fast as you can in a race, it's testing what you're made of."

Just then a lively group of racers popped in the door to the main office. Doc watched as their high spirits filled the room. Before he knew it, they were gone. Along with their smiles and laughter.

"That's messed up…"

Brian turned to Doc, "Excuse me?"

"They were out there training today just as long as I was, and they're not tired."

"They've been racing longer than you, Hudson. They're used to training by now, you'll be like that by the end of the year."

"You mean the end of the season?"

"What ever helps you sleep."

Doc leaned back, "You know, I don't get you…"

"No one does, join the club." Brian figured that since he hadn't told anyone how he really felt in a long time that everyone had forgotten the Colton incident. Leaving them totally clueless to his inner thoughts. They figured that the crash had just turned Brian into a different car.

Doc rolled his eyes, "So I'm off for the rest of the day?"

"That's what I said."

"Does that mean I can go home?" Doc asked, perking up.

"If you're a quitter…"

"I can't win with you, can I?"

"Nope."

"What else… do we have to do today?"

"Don't know, don't care."

"You can't decide for me? You're my trainer."

"I'm just kidding with you, if you want to go home, we'll go home."

Doc and Brian headed for the door, "Finally…"

"That is... if you want to give up that easily." Doc stopped driving, Brian turned back and looked at him. "Still kidding."

They continued driving, it was then that they met up with the rest of Brian's friends.

"Hey, there you are." Dave said approaching him.

"What are you guys doing here?" Brian asked.

"We wanted to see Hudson practice."

"Practice is over, it ended 10 minutes ago." Brian told them being sarcastic.

Even though Brian was just kidding telling Doc that he'd be a quitter if he went home, he still wanted to prove to himself that he wasn't through a subtle way. "I'll only do a run if someone does it with me."

Brian was surprised that Doc would actually do it.

"Don't worry guys, we've got him beat." Dave assured them.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"Yeah, you're just lucky that I didn't want to mess up your paint job…"

Joanna drove up to Doc, "Don't listen to him, he's a sore loser."

Doc laughed slightly, he stopped when Dave frowned at him.

Joanna nudged his husband, "Knock it off…"

"Don't think you've got bragging rights, Hudson, this was just one race. There will be plenty more to come."

"Next time have Brian train you, maybe you'll have a chance then." Doc suggested.

Brian laughed, "Dave wouldn't accept my help even if someone paid him too."

Doc hoped that he made Brian proud by winning against his friends.

"Rematch before your debut." Dave stated.

"No one could prepare you fast enough for next Saturday."

Everyone laughed, "Trash talker..."

"That's okay, he earned it." The group picked up the pace as they drove onto another road, "Just as long as that talk doesn't get him in trouble."

They made it home that night and everyone started to settle down. Brian informed everyone that he was leaving and went off to the bar.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The week of the race came all too soon for Doc, he was a nervous wreck the few days before race day. He had to keep his mind straight the next two days, otherwise the end result would be horrific.

It was Thursday, and Brian seemed to not have a care in the world about Doc's big debut. "Don't worry, you'll do fine. It's just like what we've been doing the past three weeks only with a big crowd of cars watching your every move…"

"You're not helping."

"Stress is life, life is stress. It's a package deal…"

"So far you've given me stress, not to mention… more stress."

"Listen, once this race is over, _stress_ won't be the same to you. It'll have a whole new meaning. You'll get over this real quick."

"Easy for you to say, Brian. You're just my trainer who happens to criticize me a lot."

"But hey, you shouldn't complain. You picked out this occupation and you stuck to it. You can't back out of it now, it's too late."

"What are we doing today?" Doc asked him.

"You're qualifying…" Brian told him, looking at the gathering crowd.

"In front of all of them?"

"If you're scared about that many cars, wait till Saturday, there will ten times more."

No one really knew who Doc was, but they soon recognized his talent during that day of qualifying. Tearing up the track, he seemed to get everyone's attention.

His run was over and he began to exit the track when he was met up with by Brian. "Kid, let's get out of here, right now."

"What's the problem?" He asked being drug away by him.

"Nothing, you did great. It's just the reporters, they'll want an interview."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Saturday morning, Brian's alarm went off at five. He quickly turned it off, for it had startled him.

He turned on the lamp next to him in his room, it was still dark out and he couldn't see anything around him.

He sighed and opened up his door to go out into the living room. He didn't get much sleep and was pretty tired.

He studied his surroundings through the dim light from the lamp in his room.

Through the silence, he heard someone else's engine start up.

It wasn't long before Brian was joined by Dave, "Time to get ready?"

"We need to get down to the track by eight o'clock."

"Then why are we getting up so early, Brian?"

"I didn't say that you had too. You can go back to bed if you want." Brian didn't bother making eye contact with Dave if he couldn't see him.

"You alright?" He asked questioning Brian's tone of voice.

"I'm fine." He told him driving to the window. This day wouldn't just be a big one for Doc, a big one for him as well.

He looked around outside, the sun was a long time away from rising. He backed away from it to see that Dave was still sitting there in the middle of the room. "I'm fine." He repeated to him, this time with a more credible tone.

"Alright, okay."

Around seven o'clock, Doc had driven over to Dave's house to meet up with everyone.

"When are we leaving?" He asked pacing around the house in front of Brian who was reading the morning paper.

"Soon, now calm down."

Doc turned around to go the other direction, "I can't."

"Yes you can. Stop driving and sit there. I guarantee when you finish that race, you'll be so tired you'll never want to pace again."

"When does the race start?" Doc passed Brian again.

He watched him go by. "It starts at noon. So you have another five hours to do absolutely... nothing."

"Can't I practice?"

"There's nothing to practice."

"Can I go meet the other racers?"

"At eight o'clock."

"Have you met any of the other racers?"

"Where have I been besides with you… and the bar?" There was no answer from Doc. "Exactly, now if you don't stop driving back in forth in front of me, I'll make you stop. Go outside and do that."

Doc cut off his engine and glided to a stop near the corner. "Sorry."

Brian rolled his eyes, "I hate the word sorry, it's just a word. It doesn't fix anything..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

James, Mason, Dave and Joanna checked in at the race track so they could be in the owners booth.

While Doc was in the race, Brian would stay at the railing, just below the booth.

It was the last call for line up, and a voice came over the intercom to inform them.

"Get out there, before they count you late." Brian told him.

Doc sighed, "You think I'm ready for this?"

Brian smiled, "I don't doubt you one bit."

Doc too, smiled with that comment and then headed for the starting line.

Brian followed him the way there but then stopped at the entrance. He waited where he was supposed to, away from the crowd, away from the press, under the owner's booth.

It wasn't long before the reporters and press gathered along side the railing with the crowd. Camera flashes were abundant, Doc got nervous about messing up. He looked to the sides of him, the cars next to him were serious and focused. He looked like the odd man out, looking clueless as what to do.

Doc looked over at Brian who had that support look upon his face.

An individual told them to start their engines, the crowd cheered as the season's first race was about to start. That same individual dropped the green flag, and the racers tore off.

Throughout the race, Doc was stressed to the point of exhaustion. Between the deafening cheer of the crowds, to the press and the other racers around him, he had enough to worry about.

Brian was his main concern, he didn't care about everything else once he thought about his self promise to him to do good in this race.

Near the end, he finally took a look at Brian as he passed him. He grinned big in approval, letting him know he was doing great.

That gave Doc the confidence, and he drove around the track like he owned it. Expressionless, but with expertise. He cut those corners and gained more ground on the leaders.


	5. Chapter 4

**CHAPTER FOUR**

Doc crossed the finish line in second place. The crowed cheered more as they came to a stop. The racers checked the score board in front of them to see their times.

Doc, surprised at his time and finishing place, headed over to Brian for praise.

"You did great kid! Never seen that good of a run on the first of the season for a rookie!"

"You mean it?"

"Yeah, of course I do! Who knows, if you keep this up, you might actually get a stalker!" Brian had to yell his sentences to Doc, the crowd's cheers filled the park.

Doc and Brian were on their way back to meet up with the others when press swarmed the two.

Brian immediately dodged the flashes, he wanted nothing to do with newspapers. Doc was stunned, he didn't know what to do as usual.

He looked at Brian for help, but the flashes blinded him. "Brian?!" He couldn't see him.

Finally a voice replied, "Sit there and smile!"

He did what he was told, he idled there with a weak smile until they went away.

It was then that the reporters approached them, asking questions. Most of Doc's answers started off kind of shaky, it was only a matter of time before Brian pulled him out of there.

"Kid, get out of there, don't talk to them just yet…"

Brian led Doc back into the sectioned off area.

There, he met up with his group. "Hudson, you did fantastic. How was it? Did you have fun?" Dave asked.

"It went better than I thought."

"Next time smile when you're out on the track, don't act like you're abused and forced to race. Make yourself look good out there." Brian told him.

As they were talking, the voices of the reporters got closer.

The group looked over and saw that they were following one of the racers that was driving up to Doc. That car was the one that won the race, "Hey, congratulations."

Doc looked at his friends, then back at the car. "Thanks?"

The car smiled and drove off to find his own team. His posse of reporters trailing behind him.

"What was that about?"

"Well, you've got his approval, I guess you didn't make too many enemies out there today." Dave told him.

"Huh?"

"That guy has a lot to be proud of, Hudson. He's got many wins, and a lot of experience." Brian told him. The winner had been racing ever since NASCAR's debut in 1949.

"Yeah," Dave said, "Beat him, and you'll be getting an insane amount of attention."

Doc watched as the car became the essence of racing, he decided to make that his goal.

He looked over at Brian who apparently just found a beer.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Later on, the first, second, and third place winners were called up on stage to receive some sort of award and publicity.

No one knew who Doc was up until today.

The third place winner exited the stage, now it was time for Brian, Dave, Doc and the team to face the crowd.

Dave started talking to them, soon the reporters had time to ask questions.

"Who's your rookie?!" Shouted one in the back.

Dave noted who asked him and answered, "This here is Hudson, get used to seeing his face because you'll be seeing a lot more of him!"

"Who's the trainer?!" No one believed that a rookie had that much talent. The trainer had to be someone special.

Brian, afraid, drove around from behind James and Mason and to the front of the stage to the microphone. "Uhh, that'd be me, Brian. Some of you know me, some of you don't."

The crowd started looking at one another. Most of them surprised at Doc's trainer.

Brian reversed himself away towards the back again, Dave finished up his little speech and the group headed off the stage.

They met up with Joanna behind the stage between the owners booth. Brian sent off Doc so he could talk to the others. "That wasn't so bad now was it, Brian?" Dave asked.

They watched Doc drive off to talk to another racer. "No, but the fact that I'll most likely go up on stage for the rest of the season just _might_ be."

The group stuck around a little bit longer for the excitement. Dave and Joanna talked with the other owners, while James and Mason stayed with the rest of the teams.

The sun was going to set soon. Brian and Doc sat next to each other watching the waves on the South Carolina beach reviewing the race. "There was one time in the race that really scared me, I got to low on the backstretches final turn and got into some soft sand. For a moment I thought I was going to get stuck."

"That'll happen sometimes." Brian told him shifting his tires in the sand.

"You still going to race me one day?" Doc asked him, there was an awkward silence, only the waves from the ocean broke it.

Brian stared out into the sea, "One day, I'll promise you that."

It got really late that night, no one wanted to leave, but they knew better.

As the crowd disappeared, the teams started packing up and the managers, along with the trainers, headed for the next racing spot.

Under one of the track lights, Doc studied his surroundings, "Where are we going for our next race?"

"Memphis Tennessee. Ready for the drive?"

"When do we leave?"

"It's not too far from here, but Mason and James like to do sight seeing. So we'll most likely leave Wednesday."

"Joanna coming?"

"No, she's stays at the house, but she wishes you the best of luck. Dave will be there though, he has to come."

"Oh yeah, I've got that race to do with him Wednesday, don't I?"

Brian laughed, "It's not worth it, you know you already won."

"I don't know about that, he sounded pretty strong and determined."

Brian turned to him with a straight face, "No, seriously, you've got him beat."

Everyone drove back to the house that night, Doc caught up on some much needed sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc won at the Memphis track that week, but only by about half a length.

Some of the fans say that last weeks winner gave him help, most know that's most likely not true.

From there on in, Doc had his ups and downs on the track, eventually leading to a top three finish. He made more wins than he expected to have all season long. Attention was what he got, even off the track.

Brian's name was out of the paper, because he said so. Anyone that tried him otherwise got to hear about it from him.

Doc didn't mind talking to the reporters as long as he had an escape route to get away from them later on. He had lots of respect on the track, and off. Not only from the other racers, but his friends as well. They couldn't be more pleased with the conclusion of the 1951 Piston Cup season.

Only one more race to do until it was over.

The five were away from home the whole season, staying at hotels and using a great amount of time fiddling with the maps.

The group found it convenient that the first and last race of the season was held at the South Carolina Racing Headquarters.

"Brian, you could at least help us over here!" James yelled, the five were parked on the side of the road trying to decipher the map in front of them.

"With what?" He asked, pulling up in front of them. "Red line is the main road. The gray ones, are the extra ones… that we aren't even going on! So what's your problem? Look, there's a hotel… right there," He said pointing to the left side of the street, "And a bar… right over there!" On the opposite side of the road was a small bar. Doc, James and Dave looked at him, "I'd say that's as good as it's gonna get!"

"You're missing the point, we were supposed to turn back here, and we turned… over here."

"Hey, don't complain to me, you guys wouldn't let me see the map."

Dave and James glared at him, "What are you, useless?"

Brian narrowed his eyes at him, "I have a purpose…"

Everyone pulled over further on the road to get away from the cars zooming by them. "Look, guys, it's not that big of a deal. We can stay here, it's okay."

"Hudson, that's a three star hotel… are you nuts?" Dave asked in disbelief.

"Is that too expensive for you?"

"No, it's not good enough!"

"Get over it!" Brian shouted. "I'm not driving back another 50 miles to a place that might not have any rooms left. I don't know about you, but I'm going to the bar."

Brian turned around and drove off to the bar behind him.

"See ya…" James and Mason went to follow Brian.

Doc and Dave sat there.

"Now what?" Dave asked.

"You just got outvoted." Doc started to back away from Dave to find the three that had just left. "I'm… going to go with them."

Dave sat there watching him take off as well.

He looked at the map in front of him, he crumpled it up in a fit of anger. "Stupid map…" Resentfully, he too, drove to the bar.

Dave drove inside to find where everyone had gone. He found Brian who already had two drinks sitting beside him. "You idiot, those don't go together well." He said looking at the brands.

"You don't know anything about drinking. And just to correct you, one is James's."

Brian and Dave looked around, they saw the other three on the other side of the room. They couldn't get their attention without driving over there, the music was right next to where they were.

Just then, Dave caught eye contact with James, he motioned for them to come back over to the entrance. "What are you doing?" Dave asked as the three pulled up in front of him.

"It's easy to get mixed around in here, you know that? I could have swore that we came in over there." James said.

"But your drink is over here."

"I know, that's what makes it scary."

Dave sighed, "You haven't even touched your drink and you're already acting stupid. Sometimes I wonder if you're really all there."

Brian, who was still staring at the bar in front of him, laughed at that. "Then where am I if he's gone?"

Doc was confused, "What… are you guys talking about?"

"Who knows at this point. Say, when can we get out of here and go to the hotel?"

Brian scoffed at the stupid question, "No one is making you stay, Dave, you can leave if you want."

Dave turned to Doc, "What do you want to do?"

"What's there to do?"

"It's been so long since I've been to this town, that I don't know. I guess we'll just stay here till these two decide when we leave."

Brian ordered another drink, "Then you're going to be here for a long time…"

Brian had drank every night for two years now, they know he's developed some sort of tolerance to the drinks he normally had.

Tomorrow they would head home and meet up with Joanna to tell her all about it. They were sure that she would hear about it in tomorrow's paper, that Doc will have won the championship by the end of next week, but they couldn't wait to tell her the news.

Doc was overwhelmed at first with all that had happened in such a short period of time, but he got used to it, and he couldn't wait till he was racing again.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Second season, Doc was the favorite among all of the cars in the Piston Cup. He had opted the name _The Fabulous Hudson Hornet _throughout the season, and it became his paint job.

Sure the others in the race had their sponsors and their sayings painted on them, but none were as flashy as Doc's. You might think that all the fame went to his head, Brian taught him otherwise. Not only being his mentor in the racing scene, he was his mentor in life. Teaching him the essence of life, the meaning, and what everything meant.

After every race, the racers went to a shop to get their racing lettering off so that the press, reporters, and the fans didn't follow them to the next race.

Doc had just gotten his lettering off, he drove out of the portable and back to Brian. "You ready to go?"

"Yeah, let's head back to South Carolina." Back at their home town, back at the campus where Doc had learned to race is where the first and last race of the season was held. "Where's the team?" Doc asked looking around.

"They went on ahead, they're getting everything set up. We'll meet them back home."

The two kept driving along, leaving the excitement behind for all of the other racers. Only one more race left in the 1952 Piston Cup season.

On their was back to South Carolina, on a lonely old stretch of highway, Brian spotted a bar.

"Please! Can we go?"

"Why?" Doc asked him.

They were getting closer to it, almost about to pass it when Brian flipped out, "Let's celebrate!"

He cut right, in front of Doc throwing him off course, "What, is your problem?!" He regained stability again and caught up with Brian. "Why would we celebrate? I haven't won anything yet and I can't drink until the season is over!"

"Just one drink?"

Doc sighed, "Okay…" He found it odd that a grown man was begging him for something like this.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc sat there expressionless, he had enough of listening to Brian and someone he met laugh and shout.

Finally, he turned to him, angry. "It's been an hour! Can we leave?"

Brian calmed down to talk to Doc, "What? I can't hear you over the music!"

"I'm leaving…"

Brian forgot all about his beer and drove after Doc, he couldn't drive back alone tonight. "Wait! Where you going?!"

"I'm--" It was then that Doc hit his brakes, someone across the room caught his attention.

Brian pulled up next to him to see what he was looking at, "Oh, she's nice, go talk to her." He nudged him forward.

Doc lashed around. "What are you nuts? I can't talk to her!"

Brian smiled, "No, it'll be easy, I'll go with you. I'll distract her friends…"

Doc looked at all her friends around her, then back to Brian. "Hey, you may be a smooth talker, but you can't handle seven of them."

"Watch me…" Brian was a pro at this, it was a game to him. A game that he never failed at.

He started to push Doc towards the group, Doc resisted. "Let off your brakes, damn it!"

The two argued all the way to them, finally, Doc shut up as he realized where he was. "Thanks…" He said to him as he drove up from behind him.

"Relax." Brian smiled and looked at the girls, "Good evening, care for a drink?"

Doc sighed, "You're drunk…" He whispered.

Brian whispered back, "Not yet." He nudged him to talk to the girl he saw while he got the others attention.

Sitting in front of her, Doc couldn't think of anything to say.

She sat there and watched her friends laugh along with Brian, it was then that their eyes met. "Uh, hi." He said to her.

She smiled, "What's your name?"

Doc had to think whether or not he should give his name away. Being in the Piston Cup, you had to be careful. He made up his mind and told her. "Hudson, yours?"

"Laura."

Doc looked at Brian, he gave him the look to get out of here. So that is what he and Laura did.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

"So, your friend was your getaway?"

Doc smiled, "Yeah, you could say that."

"Where you from, I haven't seen you around."

"I'm going back to South Carolina for the race this weekend."

"Oh, a racer. I'm guessing you race with The Fabulous Hudson Hornet?"

Doc wondered how he was going to cover this up. "Sure do."

"What's he like? I've heard different stories about him…"

How was he supposed to answer that?

He thought up something he had once read in a newspaer article about him. "Nice and down to Earth?"

"I've heard that too…" It got quiet between them for a second, Laura looked up into the nights sky. "Stupid street light… it blocks the stars."

Doc admired the way she said that statement.

She looked back down to Doc, "I don't think my friends would have let me talk to you if it wasn't for your friend back in there."

"Sometimes I don't know what I would do without him. So why are you and your friends here tonight? Don't you have some guys back at home?"

Laura laughed, "That's funny, but no. Tonight was a _forget guys _night. I guess that didn't go according to planned."

"Oh, you can go back to your friends… sorry to have bothered you."

"I'm okay, I'd rather not..."

For the longest time, the two talked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian came bursting through the double doors of the bar to find Doc. "Hey, we gotta go, her friends are psycho!"

Doc hoped that didn't offend Laura, "I'm sorry, he's just a little… out of it."

"That's okay, I know they are."

He was surprised at that answer.

Brian started to leave while humming a song from inside, Doc had to finish the conversation. "Listen, come by the track tomorrow after noon. Only if you want to go out. If you do come, don't look for me, I'll find you. Just trust me on this."

Laura was hesitant and a little skeptical about the situation, but then she answered unsure of herself. "Yeah, I'll be there."

"Great, I'll see you then."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc caught up to Brian who was heading down the road back to town. "Would you stop swerving?"

"I will when you stop spinning."

"How many drinks did you have?"

"Enough…"

"How much is enough?"

"Sixteen?"

"What? Your limit was four!"

"The bartender was nice, fifteen and a half if it makes you feel better. Where were you? You should have been watching me..."

"You're still going to the race tomorrow no matter how bad you feel."

"Only if you can get me up, Hudson."

Brian sped up and started leaning and banking from one end of the road to the other.

"Stop! I'm not letting you get into a wreck tonight, okay got it?" Doc called to him.

Doc caught up to Brian who was mad now. "Listen here and listen good, I'm allowed to have fun. Besides, tomorrow is the last race, lighten up! You know you already won, tomorrow's gonna be practice to you."

"It was stupid to _celebrate _tonight, you know racers can't drink all season or we get disqualified, stop swerving! Your not even supposed to be driving, you're gonna wreck!"

Brian was agitated. "We're in the middle of no where, there's thirty miles between the bar and our house, no one is out here! There's nothing but bushes and sand! What am I gonna hit, huh?" They passed a tumble weed, "Am I gonna hit that? No, so get over it!"

"What about the streetlight poles?"

"I think I can avoid a bright light..."

"At this rate, I highly doubt that, Brian."

Brian wasn't through having fun, he gunned it heading right towards one of the streetlight poles,

Doc freaked. "Brian!" He yelled, he took off after him.

At last second Brian veered away from it and kept on going. "Don't ever do that again!"

Brian was laughing, this was amusing to him. He slowed down to talk to Doc. "I love the fact your baby sitting me, and the fact that your failing at it. Pull over real quick, I don't feel good…"

They parked on the side of the road.

Doc faced him to see if he was okay. "Can you drive back to the hotel?"

"I don't know…" Brian had a strange look on his face, his eyes started to leave Doc's and drift upward like he was watching something.

"What are you doing?"

"Can we please keep driving?"

"Why?"

"Because… I liked it better when you were spinning and didn't levitate… wow this is creepy." He continued to look up at the night's sky.

"We're never going back to that bar…" Brian's eyes started to shut, "Oh, no, Brian? Brian! You can't fall asleep, don't do it! I'm not spending the night out here! Don't do this to me! Brian!"

Doc started laughing at the stupidity of the situation. He began to look for a call box. "Don't you worry," He said, "I'll make sure you wake up horribly."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

After being towed back home for the night, Brian was placed in his room with every light imaginable on to make it bright an irritable.

The next morning, Doc came over early and pounded on Brian's door. "Wake up! We've got a race to do!"

Brian's eyes shot open to the sudden noise, he immediately closed them and yelled. "What's with the damn lights?! Turn them off!"

Doc drove into his room, "I said it's time to get up!"

Brian winced to see who was doing this to him, "Hudson? Why are you doing this? You still mad at me for last night?"

"No, I'm teaching you a lesson, let's go!"

"I can't believe this…"

"The others said it was a good idea too."

"The others don't know anything. Let me sleep…" He shut his eyes again and rolled back farther into the corner.

"Oh no Brian, you're getting up _right _now."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Down at the track, Doc had just gotten his racing lettering back on, and the first car he met up with Brian. "You ready?"

"Yeah, I'm ready."

The two were driving back to find the others, Brian sensed Doc was un easy. "What's the matter?"

"Huh? I'm fine…"

"No you're not, what are you nervous about? Girl or the race?"

Doc smiled weakly, "The girl."

"Good, I'll go tell the others, meet up with you later--"

Doc stopped Brian from driving off, "Don't tell them anything!"

"What? They already know about her… it was payback for this morning. If she's here and you talk to her, she can't sit alone back in the crowd because the press will be all over her. Be nice and invite her over to the booth, I'm sure they'll let her in when she's with you."

"I was planning on doing that anyways, now help me find her."

The two started looking around. They scanned the crowd for anyone that resembled her, finally Brian saw her. "There, over there." Beyond the gates, almost the last one to arrive, was Laura. "You'll have to fight the crowd to talk to her, you'll ask her out in front of hundreds… awe."

Doc looked at him, "C'mon now!"

"What? I'm not escorting you all the way to her, go talk to her yourself."

"Fine…" Doc drove away from Brian to talk to her.


	6. Chapter 5

**CHAPTER FIVE**

Doc fought the cameras and the press to get to Laura. The crowd parted the way as he approached her.

To his surprise, she didn't seem interested in the celebrity pulling up in front of her.

Finally, she turned to him distracted. "Can I help you?"

"You don't sound so eager to meet the Fabulous Hudson Hornet." Doc had his race lettering off last night, and the night's sky didn't help her recognize who was talking to her.

She started looking around some more, "I'm trying to find someone. He races with you…"

"I thought my name was enough to give me away, but I guess not."

Laura stopped searching, "What?"

"So, what did your psycho friends have to say about me when we left?"

Laura was shocked, "Hudson?!"

"I thought I told you not to look for me." He said with a smile on his face.

"I, I just thought this was a prank made my some jerk. I wasn't expecting this…"

The crowd started to circle in to talk to Doc when the officials backed them off once more. "So I'm taking it that you don't want to go out then?"

"No, I do!"

"Good, I couldn't tell you who I really was last night. I had to know if you were interested in me and not the Fabulous Hudson Hornet."

An announcement came over the intercom, last call for line up.

"So we really are?"

Doc had turned to leave when she asked that, he came back to her. "Of course, why not?"

Laura's face lit up in joy, "Alright."

"C'mon, let's go. Before word gets out about you, I'm taking you to stay with my friends during the race." Officials guided them back to the owners booth.

Doc introduced Laura to Dave, the only one sitting in his booth. He was right above Brian who was down at the railing waiting for the race to start.

"I've got to go before I'm counted late, treat her nice. Don't scare her off."

Dave laughed, "I won't."

"If you see the team and Joanna, introduce them to her as well."

Doc turned around, he drove down the ramp, past Brian, and into his place in the line up.

"You know, he was surprisingly well spoken when he was talking to you…" Dave told her. Laura could only smile. "You'll fit right in with our group. Don't be afraid to be yourself."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The race had started, Doc was off to a good start. He was leading most of the way through the race.

Eventually he got bored of being in the lead and slowed down to give himself a challenge. Halfway through, Brian had started to yell things to Doc as he drove by.

He watched over him the entire race, making sure he was okay.

Dave turned to Laura, "That's just Brian for ya, I've known him for years." He looked down the booth to him. "Hey! Brian, get up here and enjoy the show! Hudson knows what he's doing! Come on, he's king of the beach!"

Brian looked up at Dave and Laura in the tower, he was hesitant, but he went.

"Don't brag about him, but what do you want?" He asked driving up the ramp, he pulled up next to Laura.

"For you too relax, you've almost worked harder than Hudson all year."

"Well in that case…" He pulled out a beer can and watched Doc drive around the track.

Dave saw this and reached in front of Laura. "Damn it Brian, enough! Wasn't last night enough of a lesson to you?" He knocked the can down the ramp.

Brian watched it roll away. "What was that for? Do you know how long I had to beg the team to give that to me?"

"There's a good reason for that."

Brian stared at the spilled beer. "Your buying me another one…"

"I am not." He scoffed.

"You owe me!"

"As long as I'm signing your checks I don't owe you anything."

"You haven't given me a check since we found Hudson, and you know that, so don't give me that! I'm working because I want to…"

Dave knew that was true, he mumbled something to himself and looked away.

"That's okay, Laura will get me another can, won't you Laura?"

Dave looked at Brian sharply, "Don't bring her into this, it's between you and me."

Laura looked at the two, she backed up to let them have their argument.

"It wouldn't have been taken this far if someone hadn't knocked away my can… beer waster!"

"Oh, sometimes I wonder how Hudson puts up with you!"

"Because he wouldn't be where he is today without me, I taught him everything he knows. From personality to racing, and everything else you can think of. I made him who he is."

"I already know that! Just like you did with--" Dave stopped himself from bringing up memories. "Never mind, let's just go back to one big happy family, the team and everyone."

"Sure sure, you keep up that good spirit of yours…"

Dave looked at Brian who was watching over Doc. "Listen, I know that you've always been there for him, you know Hudson just as well as he knows himself, and nobody can or will take that away. He's been your little project, he turned out just the way you wanted him too. You showed him the way, and he'll do nothing but good, don't worry."

"I never ask for anything in return from him, just his loyalty and honesty with me. I don't even ask for your measly little checks either."

Laura pulled back up between the two as their conversation died.

They were watching the race in silence when Dave spoke one last time. "For what ever it's worth, I'm sorry about Colton..."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The end of the race was near, Brian drove down the ramp to the railing again. Coming around the final turn, Doc leading the pack after sliding into it with perfection. He punched it, giving it all he had on the straightaway.

Flying past the finish line, he couldn't be happier winning a race. He won the Piston Cup for the second time in a row.

Looking at the score board, it was the best time he had ever made.

Cars in the crowd congratulated him as he slowed to find Brian. "Fantastic kid, I'm impressed."

"I learned from the best."

"What I tell you about being a suck up?"

"I can't state facts?"

Brian smiled, "Go get your pictures with the press already…"

Doc drove past Brian as he stayed where he was.

Dave and Laura still sat in the booth, "We're going to stay up here until things settle down. Is that alright?"

"Oh, of course."

They watched out of the booth at the gathering crowd. The two watched as Brian backed out of it and off to the side by himself.

It reminded Laura of a question she had for Dave. "I was confused about what you said to Brian this afternoon, something about a guy named Colton?"

Dave sighed and looked at Brian who was talking to Doc. "I'm just gonna set the scene for you, Brian and I worked together in the racing business, and Colton was our car in the races. I found Colton and decided to give him a shot, I paid Brian to train him and everything. Pretty soon they were fantastic friends, no one could separate them."

"What happened?"

"I might as well tell you, I think you'll be around long enough to find out anyways. A wreck was what happened. It was three years ago…"

_Brian and Colton sped up faster along the dirt road. The night black, midnight was upon them. _

_"Hey, I'll race you back home!" Colton called to him, taking off. _

_"You got it." Brian assured him. He fell behind him after Colton pulled off a move. "You just remember I taught you that!" He called up to him. _

_"Then you should have been able to stop me from doing it!" Colton shot back. _

_"Oh, I bet you're all proud of yourself now, right?" _

_They made some turns, a couple of stops and finally, they were on a straightaway. _

_Brian caught up to Colton at their top speed while Colton began to speak to him, "You wanna make this interesting?" _

_"What you got in mind?" Brian asked, eyes narrowing in suspicion. _

_"Who ever wins--" _

_"Colt look out!" _

_With in an instant, Colton struck a car who was coming down an intersection. _

_Brian made it passed the wreck, he stopped himself as fast as he could to go back where the two cars had collided. "Are you okay?" _

_Some of the cars around the accident started talking to each other as they waited to see what would happen. _

_"Don't worry about me," Said the victim, "It's your friend over here..." _

_The car and Brian turned to Colton to see that there was practically nothing left of him. He sat there ruined and smashed up, he couldn't move and could barely talk. _

_"Colton, we're gonna get you some help right now, it's okay." _

_The car Colton T-boned turned to the crowd that was gathering to keep them at bay as Brian kept talking to Colton. _

_Two of the cars took off to the station to get some help as the rest stayed back, unsure on whether to leave or not. _

_"I'm sorry." Colton managed to say. _

_"Don't be sorry, we're gonna get you put back together, everything's gonna be fine--" _

_"Brian, look at me, it's over." _

_"Don't say that, you know--" _

_"I'm sorry, I screwed this up." _

_Brian couldn't convince Colton or himself otherwise that everything would be the same after this. _

_As he listened to Colton start a horrible cough, he heard sirens in the distance. He took a quick glance over there to see how far away they were. _

_His attention returned to Colton, "See, they're already--" He stopped, Colton's eyes had shut. "No, don't do it! Colt look at me!"_

"…That's when the fire started, the car Colton hit drug him away from it all. I was there the next morning with Brian when the doctors told him he was gone. A part of Brian died along with Colton, he hasn't been the same since. The team and I don't mention Colton's name around here for Brian's sake, I introduced him to Hudson, our whole team saw that he was exactly like Colton, Brian won't admit to that though. Brian acts mature, wiser, and more role model type around him. He wears a restrictor plate to keep him from going past 60. Sure Brian shows Hudson how to race, but he refuses to take the plate off when they do. Brian asked us specifically not to tell Hudson about Colton, we respect that." Dave didn't feel bad about telling her Brian's past. He felt as if it was his job.

"Did the drinking start after the accident?"

"It did, Brian couldn't stop."

"What about when Hudson showed up?"

"He decided to get it together then. Brian was such a good racer, it's a shame he won't take the plate off."

"The team knows about the plate right?"

"They do." Brian and Doc were driving up to them. "Remember, you don't know who Colton is."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Doc had moved into Dave's house, it was easier for everyone that way.

It was later that night, Brian had gone off to the bar for the night as usual. Doc was sitting in the living room still thinking about Laura when Brian opened up the front door.

As he turned to shut it, he gasped, "Hudson! Wow you scared me… What are you doing up so late?"

"Can't sleep, what are you doing home so early?"

"Ahh, it's nothing, don't worry about it…"

Brian tried his best to avoid that conversation but Doc was persistent. "What happened?"

Brian realized that he wasn't going to let him go to bed unless he answered. "Okay, apparently when we were gone this season on the road, Joe, my bartender quit. Now there's someone new there…"

"Uh-huh."

"Well, I was talking to her, and somehow, she took the comment I gave her offensively. So she threw me out and… here I am."

"What? Do you like her or something?"

Brian scoffed, "Of course not." He insisted.

Doc wasn't buying it. "It's hard to believe that you didn't get the girl this time. What did you say to her?"

"I'm not telling you." He protested, he started to drive around Doc. "I'm going to bed, so I'll see you tomorrow morning. Goodnight."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next night, Brian went to the bar. This time it wasn't just to have a few drinks, it was to set things right with his new bartender. He knew he liked her from the moment they met.

"Okay, I never got your name…" Brian said to the bartender as she served another customer.

"Sadie."

"Alright Sadie, I figured since you're new in town, and you'll be seeing me here every night, we might as well get acquainted the right way if you're going to hate me."

"I never said I hated you, but honestly, don't you have some place to be? Coming here every night is pitiful."

"Sadie… the whole world is pitiful."

"The whole world is full of jerks such as yourself, too."

"Ahh, but you do not know me well enough to call me a jerk, one little comment that was taken the wrong way by you leading you to the fact that I was up to no good."

"Stop talking like you know what you're doing."

"I'm simply being myself…"

"Listen, I know your kind, I've been to bars all over the states, don't think you're something special."

Brian studied Sadie as she moved around with a frown on her face. She was tougher than he expected. "Sounds to me like someone has been discarded, left out and misplaced. You've been everywhere, and you've seen many things, but you still don't know what you want out of life. Am I right?"

Sadie stopped cleaning up, "I don't know what you're expecting me to say pal, but I'm sure as hell not falling for a smooth talker like you."

She continued cleaning, Brian smiled. He had to keep trying, he wasn't about to give up on this. "You're troubled."

"What?"

"You've had it rough, you've been at your bottom dollar at one point in your life and had no where to go."

"Why do you keep talking to me?"

"You've found out that being stubborn and difficult is a good way to get passed things, and in return you took up a tough job to prove to yourself that your life wasn't a failure."

"What are you, some sort of stalker?" Sadie drove closer to him.

"I've lived in this town all my life, ask anyone here, so it's not possible to _stalk_ you."

They were face to face. "Stop… bothering me."

Brian laughed at this as she drove away again. "You really are a bitter one, aren't you? Someone has done wrong to you for sure." Sadie mumbled something as Brian drank his beer. "I'm trying to be friends with you if you're going to be my bartender for a while, I don't want you fixing my drinks before I arrive."

"Well thanks for that cracker jack idea…"

"You really need a friend to talk to about your problems, you know that?"

"What would you know about problems?"

"Why do you think I'm here every night!" Brian snapped, he sighed. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean that to come out like it did, I've been through my share of problems as well."

"Then worry about yours and not mine. I don't need your help, I'm fine on my own."

"You've got no one else to talk to, and I know you've got no friends here so far, you just moved here."

Sadie gave another car what they ordered and drove back to Brian. "Don't you have some friends to go home to yourself?"

"Sooner or later you'll give into your feelings and emotions, and there won't be anyone else but me to talk to."

"Why are you doing this? Why would you want to help me out on anything anyways? What do you get out of this?"

"Nothing."

Sadie looked at the clock, "It looks like it's time for you to go home."

"Did the comment I gave you last night really offend you that bad or are you always this defensive?"

"Have a goodnight, sir." She said with narrowing eyes.

"Okay, you win, your mind has been corrupted far past my help. Goodnight." He had to give this one more shot, he pretended like he didn't care about winning her over anymore.

Brian slid his can to her and drove out of the bar.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Sadie drove out of the bar, she looked around for Brian, but then realized it was stupid to hope he was there.

She started driving away when through the silence of the night, someone's engine started up. Sadie turned around and saw Brian driving from around the club.

"What are you doing here?" She asked getting defensive to save face.

"I can't enjoy my free time?"

She thought a minute, then realized her attitude towards him would get nowhere. "Okay, fine, I'm glad you stayed…"

Brian felt victorious, he got her attention and all he had to do now was play it smooth. Keeping his subtle smile, he talked to her. "So, what's troubling you?"

"It's just… ever since I got fired from my first job in Tennessee, it's been rough."

"How about I drive you home and we'll talk about this, alright?"

The two drove off as Sadie explained her situation. Almost an hour later, Sadie stopped driving.

"Well, this is it, this is my house."

"Yeah, I've kept you out too long, go ahead and get inside, besides, my friends are probably out looking for me right now."

Sadie laughed a little, "No, you haven't kept me out late at all."

There was a moment of silence between them, then Brian spoke. "I hope I helped you out some."

"You did, and thanks… for being so nice to me. I don't know why you are but thanks."

"No problem, I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight Sadie."

"Okay, goodnight." Brian started to leave, she still sat there in the middle of the road. "That's it?"

Brian turned back to look at her. "Yeah, that's it, what were you expecting?"

"I just thought there would be some sort of a--"

"Nope, why?" He asked her with a smile, he didn't wait for her answer and continued on home.

"Oh, you're good," She said to herself. "You are good at this game." Sadie took one last look at the leaving tail lights and headed inside her house. Brian had her confused. She didn't know whether he liked her or not, but she knew for sure. That he was trying to be someone's friend and guardian. Brian was someone she needed all along.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Coming home, Brian was bombarded with questions, he was thirty minutes late from his normal time of arriving home. It had scared Dave. "Where the hell were you? Don't say you were at the bar, we went there!"

"No, I know where he was," James said driving up, "He was with that new bartender!"

"How would you know anything about that? Let alone know she was new?"

"Hudson told us that you had someone in mind lately." Dave admitted.

Brian turned to Doc. "Why would you tell them that?"

"It seemed logical, I'm sorry."

James drove up to Brian, "So now that you've dated everyone in town, you're hitting on the new ones from out of state."

"No, I drove her to her house as we talked."

"That's hard to believe when it's coming from you." James said.

"He's right," Said Doc.

"I'm just helping her get through her life right now, so this is how it's gonna be?" Everyone glared at him. "Okay, tomorrow night, come to the bar with me and hear it from her. She won't be happy about it, but how's that?"

"Deal, we'll all go."

James and the others agreed.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The six of them all followed Brian into the bar to see who Sadie was.

"Hey, who are you guys?"

"Sadie, these are my friends that I told you I had to go home to, and now they're pissed, the refused to believe I was a gentlemen to you."

"Why, what's going on?"

Dave drove up to Sadie, "You see, I don't mean to ruin this for you, but Brian has lots of miles on him if you know what I mean, and all of us are here tonight to find out whether or not--"

"Look, I know where this is going. AndI really don't understand why that matters to you guys, but yes, your precious Brian was the perfect gentlemen."

"But--"

"And for your information, I have miles on me too, _if you know what I mean_."

Dave rolled back a few inches, "Well no need to get snappy."

Doc looked at Laura, "Brian's type…"

Sadie looked sharply at Doc, "From what I learned the first night I met him, I figured I was that kind of car to him."

"Wait, you heard me?"

"I'm not deaf, alright?"

James drove up to the bar as well, "Okay, I think we got all the information we wanted, let's not piss her off, she's almost too hard for Brian to handle, which means we don't mess with her..."

"I'll have the usual." Brian said to Sadie, she went to the other end of the bar to get it after smiling at him in approval. Brian turned to his friends, "Okay, you got your proof, go home and wait for me to come back at eleven o'clock after I drive her home."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They were driving back to the house after leaving Brian there to talk to her when Dave started to ramble on about Sadie's good looks.

Not realizing that he was offending Joanna in the process, he was getting himself into trouble. Here's how it happened.

Joanna stopped and turned to him, "Would you shut up about her?"

Dave halted where he was, everyone behind him did as well.

They formed a small group in the middle of the street as Joanna got on his case, she didn't like that Dave was talking so highly of her.

"Whoa, easy Jo, what did I do?"

"You know exactly what you did!" She said annoyed.

"Uhh, no, I don't, I'm a guy." He said, trying to weasel himself out of an argument. Joanna couldn't believe him, it was then that Dave realized what he had said. Trying to save face, he began to apologize in his own little way, "Oh, c'mon, honey! Everyone loves compliments!"

Joanna rolled her eyes at him, "We'll see who loves compliments when you're out in the living room tonight..."

She turned to leave when Dave called out to her. "I love you!" He said in a desperate attempt to make things right.

Dave watched her leave, knowing he was stupid for what he did.

James, Mason, Doc and Laura pulled up closer to Dave and watched Joanna disappear around a corner going back to the house.

James spoke to Dave who was a bit embarrassed. "It's one thing to blab and flat-out admire someone for their state of being," he said with a hint of sarcasm, "But it's another to do it in front of your own wife."

Dave turned and looked at him, "You're not helping."

"Hey, I just tell it how it is. I'm just glad this isn't my problem."

Dave scoffed, "It's gonna be your problem, because you live at my house. Along with Mason, Brian _and_ Hudson. They'll get to hear hell's cry as well."

Dave drove to go catch up with Joanna, Mason did as well.

James, Doc and Laura sat there watching them leave.

Laura turned to Doc, "You don't think she's pretty, do you Hudson?" She asked him with big, sad eyes.

Doc smiled, "No, of course not."

James brought his attention to Doc, "Atta boy Hudson, lie to her while you still can!"

James drove off before Doc could get last word in.

He looked at Laura to make sure she didn't take it offensively. "Ignore him, he probably got into Dave's liquor cabinet before we left for the bar..."

"Uh-huh." She said with an attitude.

"What did I do?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

That night after everyone left, Brian drove Sadie home like he said he would, they drove beside each other in the back roads, "So, what do you do for a living?"

"I train racers for local and national championships."

"Oh, that's interesting, who are you training now?"

Brian wasn't allowed to tell others who the racers were, but he wasn't going to lie to her. "Someone very important."

"Like who?"

"I can't tell you, it's in the contract."

"I understand…"

"What made you come to this town to work?"

"I was just driving through when I noticed a sign in the club's window. I started looking for open apartments."

"Always been a bartender?"

"Pretty much." They were halfway to Sadie's house. "I have a question… actually a couple."

"Go ahead."

"Why are you being so nice to me, what's the catch?"

Brian smiled, "There's no catch, I'm trying to give someone a friend they need."

"How did you know so much about me from only meeting me only twice, even right now you're figuring me out."

"It's all in the way you act, your attitude, your driving, your mood, every little detail can be summed up and averaged out to an explanation about that car."

"That seems hard."

"It really isn't, over the years you can pick up on these things."

"Then what am I thinking about?"

The two stopped driving and faced each other. Sadie put on a fake half a smile hoping to throw him off

However, her sad attempts had no effect. "You wish you could be happy with what you got because you that others have it worse than you, but when you live a life of loneliness, you can't help but sulk in what you consider misery. So in return you are happy to have a jerk like me talk to you."

"Okay, that's scary..."

Brian laughed, "Was I right?"

"Yeah… there was something else that you missed and I'm glad you did."

"Maybe I didn't miss it and I'm just not telling you." Sadie stared at him, "Okay okay, relax." He assured her.

They continued driving along, "But I don't think you are a jerk… at least not anymore."

"Still, what has the world done to you?"

Sadie closed her eyes, "Between losing friends, bad relationships, and no pay, you give up on the world."

"I know what that's like."

"Really now? What all have you lost?"

"My life."

They pulled up in front of Sadie's house. "Thanks for driving me home again, you're really sweet about all this."

"It's no problem, really. I'll see you tomorrow, you have a good night."

Brian backed up to let her leave, but she didn't. "You really are hard to understand."

"What?"

Sadie smiled, "You know what I mean."

Brian put a smirk on, "Well now, that just makes it all the more interesting, doesn't it?"

Sadie drove past him up to her house for the night. Before she went in, she took one last look at Brian who sat there.

"Goodnight." He said before turning to leave for the house.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

This was Brian's new routine.

Almost a month into driving Sadie back to her house, you would think that they would finally run out of things to talk about, but no.

Sitting in Sadie's living room, there was a phone call.

"No one has my number, who could be calling this late anyways?" She answered the phone. "Hello? Yes? Yes of course, he's right here. Sure, hold on." Sadie turned away from the phone to Brian. "It's for you."

He sighed, "Is it Dave?" He drove up to the phone, "Hello?"

"What are you doing?"

"I'm having a good time, how did you get this number?"

"Never mind that. Do you realize what time it is?"

Brian looked at Sadie's clock, twelve thirty. "What about it?"

"It's way past your normal time. You plan on coming home any time soon?"

"I don't see what the big deal is…"

There was a pause before Dave said something else. "You may not know this, but I stay up every night until you come home just to be sure you're okay."

"Why would you do a thing like that?"

Dave was upset that Brian didn't appreciate he did that for him. "I sat awake for three years waiting for you to come home for this answer? Did you know I cared that much?"

"Fine! I'll come home…" Brian hung up the phone and returned to Sadie. "Hey, I've gotta go. I'll see you tomorrow night, alright?"

"I'm sorry, this is all my fault."

"No, it's not. Dave's just overly protective."

Sadie drove Brian out and he headed for his house.

Brian opened the front door to absolute silence. Driving home, he did some thinking about what Dave said to him on the phone. Going down the hallway to his room, he stopped by Dave's room.

Pushing open the door lightly, he called his name. "Dave… Dave?" He whispered so he wouldn't wake Joanna up.

There was no response, finally there was. "Yeah?" Dave answered.

Brian stared at the ground, "I'm sorry… for what I said. Thanks for waiting for me to come home every night since I started drinking…"

Dave paused for a minute, "It's okay."

"Goodnight." Brian pulled the door shut again and headed for his room. Driving inside, he opened up a cabinet in the corner. Inside, was a bottle of whiskey that he got as a present from Sadie. Next to that was a picture of Colton. "Goodnight to you, too."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

He woke the next morning to a lot of commotion among the house that day. In the living room, he saw that everyone was up and talking. "What's going on?"

Everyone turned to him, "We're just talking about today." James told him.

"What's so special about today?"

"You don't remember?"

"Apparently not…"

"This weekend?" Brian still wasn't catching on. James sighed, "The cabin?"

"Oh!"

Brian had forgotten about his cabin that they went to every year the same time to have races. It was way out of town, all the way in North Carolina.

There was a cabin in front of the Appalachian Mountains where the roads and courses were the toughest things around. Not only was the scenery fantastic, there was a lake. Right in front of the Mountain range, next to the cabin, was a huge, peaceful lake. Brian found the cabin one time, and since no one seemed to be using it, he decided to keep it.

Just to make sure that no one was using it, he barricaded the main entry to the cabin. Brian had blocked off the main road up to the cabin with _no entry _and _detour_ signs that he stole off of someone else's property a couple years back with Colton.


	7. Chapter 6

**CHAPTER SIX**

Doc and Laura were doing surprisingly well. They both knew that they'd end up divulging their relationship at the beginning of the 1953 Piston Cup Season.

Sadie and Brian are a different story all together. Practically best friends, Doc was actually jealous of Sadie taking his place. Brian did his best to insure him that she wasn't.

But what Sadie didn't realize, is that he loves her. Brian knows Sadie very well, and he knows that she is the kind of car that runs from her problems. He's thought long and hard on whether or not he should tell her, but he knows she might run off if she considers his secret a dilemma.

All he can do is hope she doesn't move away again, and keep hiding his secret from her, letting her live her life.

Doc set out to find Laura to ask her if she wanted to go to the cabin as well. "There's a cabin up in the mountains, we go there once a year at the end of the season to race. The place has fantastic roads and courses. We'll spend the weekend there and we'll leave Monday afternoon. Brian found the place a long time ago, ever since he did, he's brought himself and the team up there with him. Dave, Joanna, James, Mason, and Sadie are coming, care to join?"

"So, basically we'll just party and race?"

"Right, we'll get up in the morning and mark out a course, depends on how long the course is whether or not there are a lot of laps."

"Yeah, I'll come. What are the rules?"

"Just stay on the marked path, everything else is legal. We'll leave tomorrow night, Friday night, stock up on fuel and bring an extra case. Brian brings everything else."

"Is anyone going to be at the cabin when we get there?"

"No, Brian _owns_ the cabin, it's his. Don't worry, this'll be great. The road going up to the cabin may be discouraging, but that's only because no one uses it anymore. It's all run down and rough. The courses are nothing like that though, hope you know how to handle them. Just a warning, Dave and James get real competitive."

"I'm sure I can manage…"

"Great, I'll see you tomorrow."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Friday, the eight of them packed up and left for North Carolina.

Of course, on their way there, Brian and Dave had their little fight. "Enough, don't start this weekend out bad. You got it?" Joanna demanded.

Brian was removing all the signs to the main road, "That's all up to your husband…"

Joanna sighed, "You can't take the blame for anything can you?"

Brian took that offensively, he took the blame for the one thing that almost ruined him. He shut up and continued moving the signs out of the way.

Pretty soon they all came to the cabin.

Driving up to the cabin for three miles at the pace of a dog wore down most of their patience. The road had been washed away and dug out over the year. Everyone was interested in the things around them.

Immediately, Sadie and Laura checked out the lake. Dave showed everyone the cabin and where they'll be staying for the weekend.

Coming back out of it, they saw that Brian had made two neat piles of the beer he brought.

He turned to face them, "Okay, this is mine… and this is yours."

"But, your pile is bigger than ours."

"If that's a problem then get your own beer." He said, scooting his section further away from the others'.

Everyone looked at Dave, "Just let him have it, let him have it…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The boys were eager to have their first race of the weekend.

Dave, James and Doc set out to map out a course for them. Using all of the unused back roads for this course, they were going to make it interesting. After a good amount of time, they came back and were sitting on the starting line.

Doc, Brian, Dave, James, Laura, Sadie, and Mason were lined up for the start of the first race.

It was a quiet Friday evening, up until Joanna told them to get ready. They all started their engines, hoping that the first race would go fine.

Just as Joanna dropped the flag, Laura was pushed out of the way. She sat there and waited for the dust to clear to see what had happened. She was stunned at their rudeness.

Joanna laughed and pulled up next to her, "They may treat you right back in town, but up here, they lose all manners."

"Well," Laura said watching the cars disappear, "It's too late to catch up to them now…"

"I bet they don't even notice you're gone. Even if you did catch up to them, you've gotta be tough. I raced once with them, a long time ago, and I decided never to do it again."

"I can see why. So they race with no rules, right? That's what Hudson told me."

"That's true, everything's okay as long as you don't take shortcuts. Most of them finish the weekend with more than a few dents."

They listened to the sound of the engines fade off as the racers got farther away. Through the silence, Laura and Joanna heard one of the boys yell out a horrible cry. Laura panicked.

"Someone got hurt!"

She started for the course when Joanna stopped her. "That was my idiot husband, the crazy fool… he does that every time when he's losing. When the others hear him do that, they freak, thinking there was a wreck. While they are busy accessing the situation, he takes the lead…"

"Sounds smart."

"No, it's actually the dumbest thing to do, I tell him that and he never listens to me. When ever he does that, everyone starts to swerve, it's not safe. I kind of didn't want you to race today if he did that while you were out there. If you think that was loud from here, try having him yell that from behind you. It scares you half to death…"

Laura didn't appreciate Joanna's tone. So far she viewed her as stuck up and snobby. Dave had spoiled her with all his riches, apprently.

The sound of the engines completely vanished, there was silence among them. The trees stood still as the wind dropped.

The two looked at the scenery around them, Joanna looked at the mountains to the left of them. "This part of the mountain has every time of terrain you can think of."

"It's really pretty up here though."

The sound of engines was approaching to the west of them, the pack had started off going north. "Okay, when they're almost here, you get back towards the cabin. They fly by almost at full speed." Joanna warned.

The feint sounds of distant engines were a little under a minute away now.

Laura and Joanna waiting next to the cabin's side where they could see them coming ahead of time. The group came flying around the bend.

Doc was barely holding onto the lead, Sadie right behind him.

Dave fought James for third, Mason was just trying to stay out of the way of the clashing two in front of him.

Right behind Mason, keeping a steady pace and driving with complete perfection, was Brian.

The group was finally gone again and into the second and final lap.

Joanna sighed, Laura turned to her. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just Brian."

"Is it about the restrictor plate?"

Joanna looked at her in surprise, "How'd you know?"

"Dave told me about it, he told me about Colton too…"

Joanna closed her eyes, "Yes, sadly yes, that is why he is in last place, because of the plate, and because of the accident."

"Dave told me that it hurt everyone when you guys lost Colton. But not as bad as it hurt Brian."

"It truly is a shame that it happened. Even more of a shame that he can't get over it. Brian would have smoked everyone of those guys on the track right now if it wasn't for that damn plate. The boys know that's true, but since Hudson doesn't know about Colton or the plate, he just thinks he needs a tune up… He may not have as much horsepower as Hudson, but he's quick and cunning. If Brian would take it off, Hudson would finally have a challenger." Joanna laughed and turned to the lake.

Laura smiled, "I understand why Brian hasn't told Hudson about Colton though."

"Well, one day he'll know, but getting off that subject, Sadie's doing surprisingly good for her first race with the guys."

"I don't think I'll race this year with them, I don't think I could."

"Nonsense, if you can survive the first lap, it'll be fun. Not all of the races we'll do this weekend are just two laps, this race is just short because it's almost sun down. Besides, come Saturday night, they'll be tired anyhow. There will be plenty of chances for you to get used to their brutality out here." Joanna joked.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Saturday night, they were all sitting by the fire talking when the next subject was brought up. "You know, I could have had you barred the first night we met. But I was nice and let you off with some harsh words…" Sadie noted.

"You call that _letting me off_? You practically tore me apart. I am thankful that you didn't bar me though. If you did, I would have raised cane around these guys, I wouldn't have a bar to go to."

The eight laughed among themselves. "Yeah, Brian never did tell us what he said to you." Dave said, reminding him.

Sadie went to speak when Brian stopped her, "Please don't, you'll start some stuff up."

"Oh, c'mon Brian, let her talk."

"No, I won't have it, some other time."

Everyone took Brian's tone seriously and decided to drop the conversation.

It was silent for a few seconds before Dave spoke up again. "Good races huh?"

Everyone that raced today agreed, Laura and Joanna just smiled since they would have their first race with them tomorrow.

Doc looked at Brian who was staring into the fire, "Hey, what's with you? Sad that you didn't win today?"

Brian glared at him, "I always come in last, what's it to you?"

Doc inched back, "Calm down, the fire's hot enough without you adding heat. I'm just saying, maybe you should go get yourself checked out. It's not good for you to be running like you are…"

"I'm perfectly fine, or what ever you want to call it. Let's just leave it at that."

Everyone sensed some tension building up between Doc and Brian.

"Hey, I'm not looking to start something either--"

"Then why would you bring up the fact that I always finish last, Hudson? Everyone knows!"

"Well if you're going to race with all of us, at least put some effort into winning, and stop perfecting your driving."

Dave decided to stop this before it got any further. "Alright, Hudson, enough. It's not all about winning, can't he just enjoy the run?"

There was an awkward silence, Brian sat there quietly after taking all the trash talk from Doc. Everyone but Doc knew by now that Brian was thinking about the accident.

Out of no where, Brian started backing out of the circle of cars.

"Where you going?" Asked Dave who was right next to him.

Brian's feature was barely in sight by the fire, they almost couldn't see him. "I've got to go back into town…"

He started to drive away when Sadie called out to him, "Can I come along?"

Through the darkness of the night, they could only hear Brian's voice. "No, this is something I have to do alone. I'll be back soon, alright?"

The soft spoken car took off towards town as everyone looked at each other among themselves. They were worried about him now, hoping that Doc's remarks didn't offend him that bad.

Most of them sighed and they, too, headed out of the circle around the fire now that the night was ruined.

One by one they headed for the cabin, it was now just Doc and Laura, "You leaving too?"

"I am, I'll see you tomorrow, goodnight."

She followed the others as Doc still sat next to the fire, listening to it crackle. He looked down the old, uneven, washed away road that they used to get to the cabin. He watched Brian's distant headlights bob up and down as he got further away.

Doc looked up at the stars, and then back down to the lake to see their smooth, mirror reflection on the calm water. He sat there a little while longer, thinking about everything going on around him, and hoping that nobody was mad at him.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

It was early the next morning, everyone was up and about the cabin. They were getting ready to set up the new course when coming up the main road was Brian.

"Brian! There you are! Where did you go?" Joanna asked.

He didn't answer Joanna, instead he turned to Doc with a smirk on his face. "I'm calling you out, one on one race. Can you handle that?"

The group looked at each other while Doc drove closer to Brian.

"Which course?" He asked.

"Last night's, I don't feel like making up a new one."

"Why do you want to race?" Doc asked.

"I'm gonna shut you up, it's time someone did."

"What are you talking about? Oh, you mean my trash talk? I think I earned the right to…"

"Really now? Have you lost all respect for the guy who made you who you are? To me, it sounds that way, so I'm putting a stop to that today."

The two turned away from each other with attitude. Dave and James got in front of Brian as Doc drove to the beginning of the track. "Hey, what are you doing?" Dave asked.

"Seriously, what can you prove to him? You know, with you and the…"

Brian smiled and tilted to one side. With his right front tire, he slid out from under him a large circular piece of metal. It was the restrictor plate that Brian had in him all along.

Dave and James quietly gasped at the history making scene. They wondered if the Brian they had known all these years had finally came back to be himself.

"Are you serious?" James whispered.

"Yeah, now go over there and tell the others…"

Brian started to drive away to meet up with the anxious Doc when Dave stopped him, James drove back to everyone to show them the plate. "Hey."

Brian looked at Dave, "Yeah?"

"I'm proud of you."

He rolled his eyes, "Oh, don't go sentimental on me… this is a one time thing."

"Even if it is, congratulations."

Brian drove around him, "Thanks."

Dave watched him drive away, "You better tear him up!" Dave three-pointed himself to go back to the group who were just ecstatic, they couldn't believe Brian would ever take the plate off.

They were all smiles, enjoying the surprise. Everyone was talking about it when they were interrupted by Doc, "Would someone mind dropping the flag?!"

Everyone glanced at the plate, then back to Doc. Joanna pulled out of the circle around the restrictor plate, "I'll do it! I'd be honored…"

The group followed Joanna to the tree line near the start of the course. She twirled the flag around as everyone stopped where they were.

"Hey, Hudson!" James called, "Just wanted to let you know… that we all wish you good luck!"

Doc was confused, "Why me?" He was beginning to suspect something was going on.

But before he could get an answer, Joanna dropped the flag, and the two sped off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXx

The two were almost done with the first lap, everyone could hear the two engines tearing up the road.

Over the engines, they could hear Brian's voice as they slid around the cabin's turn. They were tied, Doc was horrified and stressed out. He could barely keep control as he struggled and fought Brian from taking the lead.

Brian was laughing and criticizing Doc, all while keeping calm and collected. "You switch your gears too soon! You're driving erratic, what's going on? You scared?!"

Everyone watching the race started laughing, Brian was giving Doc the hardest run he's ever had.

They watched the two zoom into the second lap of the race, the final lap. They listened to Brian who was still making fun of Doc, they sat there until they were out of sight.

"Well, it seems to me that Brian is not only showing Hudson up, he's also paying him back for all the trash talk he's given him."

"I'm just happy that he finally took the plate off, he can be himself again." Joanna told them.

"I don't think that Hudson's trash talk was the thing that encouraged him to take the plate off, I think he's just coming back around after much deep thought." James said, falling back a bit in the line.

"How do you mean?" Dave asked turning to him.

"I think he just took up this race with him so that he had en excuse to take it off."

They all looked at each other, "Let's not ruin this by asking him a whole bunch of questions. Be glad that he did, he's come a long way."

They all started driving back to the cabin to witness the ending of the race.

"Pansy…" James said to himself.

Dave hit him, "Don't ever say that again, understand?"

"What did I do?"

"I'm sorry, were you not the one that cried that day as well?" Dave taunted.

"Hey--"

"That's what I thought, so you shouldn't be talking."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Brian crossed the finish line a full length and a half ahead of Doc. The group cheered as the two slowed down to rejoin them.

"Hah! I knew you wouldn't let us down!" Dave said driving up to him.

"I'll tell you, that kid has a hard time being pushed to the limit."

Doc pulled up to them out of breath, "What… just… happened?" He asked shutting off his engine.

"You just got whooped by your trainer." Dave told him.

"That's right, what happened to you? I thought you were the best."

"I never said that…" Doc said with wide eyes.

"You make it seem like that. Yeah, and I need the check up?"

Doc frowned at Brian, "Are you done? You dissed me the entire time, I get it."

"I drink every night, and yet I was still driving straighter than you."

"Enough, I admit defeat."

"That's not all, what happened to you on the last turn? Did you engine over heat or did you just give up? Because I couldn't see you."

"I'm sorry! Shut up!"

Dave and Brian looked at each other and admired Doc's effort. "Hudson, you know we care about you, we just wanted you to know what it was like to be put down for once."

Doc stopped breathing hard and returned to normal, "Just what exactly happened? How'd you become so fast?"

Brian headed towards to group who wanted to talk to him while Dave was left with the responsibility to make up an answer. "He finally decided to show you what he was made of. You still have a problem with perfecting your driving now?"

Doc was quick to answer, "No, never again! Is that what he was doing all this time? Perfecting his driving so that when he really did race he kept total control?"

Dave realized that what Doc just said helped out the lie he just told. "Yeah, all along."

"I guess I lost my bragging rights…"

"Don't worry about it, you still beat us don't you?"

Doc turned to look at everyone who made Brian the center of attention down at the cabin. "Yeah, and I appreciate you guys not bagging on me."

"Don't mention it. Besides, Brian told a year's worth."

They started driving back to the cabin, they were met by Brian. "Hey, where's my plate?" He asked. Doc drove off to Laura who called him over.

Everyone else gathered behind Brian.

"Why?" Dave asked.

"I need, please give it back."

"No, you don't need it anymore."

Brian laughed at Dave, "That's a good one, now seriously give it back. This was a one time thing…"

"I'm not giving it back to you."

"It's mine!"

Doc and Laura turned back to see what the commotion was all about, they were about to go drive off when they heard Brian yelling. The two stayed where they were, a far distance away from the cabin, near the main road.

"Yeah, but Brian, you did it! It's over, look at you, you're fine!"

"Just give me the damn plate!"

"No! Nothing bad happened to you--"

"What's going on?!" Doc yelled at them, everyone completely ignored him.

"You better give it back!"

Without warning, Dave chucked the plate in Doc's direction. He dodged it as it flew at him.

"What are you doing?! What's going on?!" He looked back up at everyone, Brian had started up his engine and was driving up to him awfully fast.

"Take it and run fool!" Dave screamed.

Doc scooped it up and sped off confused, "I don't want any part of this!" Doc took off down the main road, Brian right behind him, chasing him.

Laura sat there not knowing what to do. She looked at the group for help.

"Go help him!" Joanna yelled.

That's all Laura needed to hear.

She too, took off to catch up to Doc and Brian, she knew what all this was about. She drove down the road, turning and shifting. The dust cloud in front of her was getting thicker and thicker, she was close.

It was then that she heard them talking.

"Hudson, just stop right now and I won't be mad at you, how's that?!" Brian yelled up to Doc who had been leading the way through the roads.

"Someone explain to me what is going on! Why am I guarding a restrictor plate?!"

"I can't tell you!" Brian pulled up next to him on the straightaway. "Kid, stop, please!"

He remembered the speed, and the position of himself during the night of the crash, it was all coming back to him. Where he was and what he was doing just then reminded him, it was exactly the same. This chase brought back every little detail.

His vision got blurry as he looked around for merging roads.

He saw the last thing he'd ever want to see, a car coming down the road in front of him. "Colt look out!"

Brian had swerved out of the way, Laura who had been tailing him the entire time followed his direction.

Doc saw the car in front of him a little too late, there was no time to react now. He braced himself for the impact.

Doc's front right fender clipped the car's headlight, sending them both into a wild spin on the dirt road.

The sound of multiple squealing brakes filled the forest.

The four came to a stop, Brian was on the brink of loosing his sanity. He pulled up next to Doc and inspected him. "Are you alright?!" He asked, looking him over for any more damage.

"You… you called me _Colt_, who's Colt?"

Laura started talking to the car that Doc hit while Brian was speechless. "I… I'm sorry." He realized that he might just have screwed things up again for himself. "I have to go!" Brian didn't care about the plate, he couldn't think straight.

He took off back to the cabin after staring down a frightened Doc. "Hey! What's wrong?!"

There was no answer, only a face full of dust.

He watched Brian disappear behind the bend of the road.

Laura and the irate car that he hit pulled up next to him. Laura knew what Brian was talking about, "C'mon, we've got to get back to the cabin, now." She too chased after Brian, the car behind her, "I want money for these damages!"

Doc sat there confused, he glanced down at the restrictor plate that started it all. He got mad at himself and the others, "So, this is all just a lie huh?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back at the cabin, Doc was last to arrive. He waited under the trees to eavesdrop on the conversation.

Brian was near the water's edge, everyone surrounded him. Laura and Joanna were talking to the car that he had hit, trying to keep him out of this as well.

While they did that, Mason, James, Dave and Sadie tried to calm Brian down. "Hey, hey! Look at me! What happened?!" Dave yelled at him, Doc decided that he should do the right thing and tell him.

"Dave! Come here." Doc pulled out from the shadows while the others argued with Brian.

"Kid, what the hell happened to you?" He asked looking at his broken fender.

"We were speeding down the road when I hit a car merging into my side. I had no place to go, Brian was on my left so I couldn't pull away from him."

Doc looked at Dave who had a horrified look on him, he slowly realized what had happened. He realized what was happening to Brian. He looked over at Brian, and then back at Doc. "Oh… no, this can't happen! Damn it! Oh, he came so far!"

Dave fishtailed back around to talk to Brian.

Doc lost it, "Would someone please tell me what's going on? If I get dust in my face one more time today!" Doc mumbled to himself as he pushed at a pile of rooted up dirt from Dave.

"Everyone out of the way…" James, Mason and Sadie moved out of Dave's way as he approached Brian, the look on his face was crazy. He was out of control, no one could get him to shut up. "Brian, Brian! It's okay! Hudson's fine, alright?! Hey, look at me! It's over, calm down…"

"No, no you weren't there, you didn't see it like I did, it was exactly the same Dave! Exactly the same."

James scoffed in protest. "See! What I tell you, Dave? He is a pansy!"

Dave glared at James as Mason and Sadie continued to talk to Brian. "You wanna shut up before I help you find out what it was like to be in Brian's position that night?"

"No... I just think he's got problems--"

Dave pulled up closer to him so that only James could hear his next statement. "I suggest you keep all your rude comments to yourself unless you do wanna find out."

James nodded, he didn't like the vision he got in his head of what Brian had seen. Dave's threat was enough for him.

Sadie was confused. She knew about the plate, but not about the accident.

Brian started backing up into the lake, his tires were now halfway in as he rambled on.

"Hey hey hey! Brian, stop!"

He continued yelling at himself, then towards the three. "I will when you guys do! Now back off!"

The three braked at the shoreline. "We're just trying to help you!"

"So far help sucks!" Brian's tires started to sink in the gravel, he was sliding backwards.

"Get out of the water, idiot!" Dave demanded.

Brian was reluctant, but he finally came out after fearing for himself.

Doc still sat where Dave had left him when he got there. He watched as James, Mason and Dave boxed Brian in and led him inside the cabin.

Doc felt saddened, not just for Brian, but for everyone else, they seemed to be hurt by this too.

He stared at the ground, it was then that Laura pulled up. "You okay?"

"No. Are you in on this too?"

"I'm not going to lie to you…"

"Why can't I know like everyone else? Apparently, there is some big secret that nobody seems to want to tell me!" He yelled.

"You're not helping. Now wait here until Joanna is done talking to that car over there. Sadie and I will be in the cabin along with everyone else. Don't come inside, because the last thing that Brian needs to see is your face."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I'm sorry for all the confusion…"

Laura met up with Sadie and they too went inside.

Doc looked at Joanna and the car; the only ones still outside with him.

He watched the car pull away, Joanna started to drive to him. "You doing okay?"

"Yeah… I'm fine. What's wrong with Brian?"

She sighed, "Hopefully he'll be the one to answer that, he needs too. Just… for tonight, let this all go, and don't worry about it. He'll be back to normal soon… I hope. For once I thought this was the end of it all."

"I'm not even going to ask, listen, can I go back inside the cabin?"

"Now you can, just don't talk to Brian, let everyone else help. I promise, you'll get your answers soon."

Joanna led the way back into the house.

When he got inside, he found everyone in one big mass. He squeezed by them and headed up the ramp towards his room. Halfway up he looked down into the main room and saw that Brian had back himself up diagonally into one of the corners. He was a bit more quieter now, and almost back down to Earth. He couldn't help but feel that he caused all this, but then remember that Dave threw the restrictor plate at him.

Late that night, the front door to the cabin slammed shut.

Dave awoke and started up his engine wondering who could be out this time of night. He drove downstairs and looked out the lake view window and saw Brian parking at the lake's shore.

He saw this as the perfect time to talk to him one on one. Hopefully get Brian's mind back in working order.

Dave backed away from the window and went outside. He pulled up next to Brian. Together they sat there in silence, listening to the gentle sound of the lake.

Dave sighed, "Whatcha doing?"

Brian shifted his tires in the dirt, "Thinking."

"About what?"

"Don't ask stupid questions… I know why you're out here, so no need to make up excuses."

"I didn't know that, sorry."

"Don't be sorry, if anyone should be sorry, it's me. For being so dumb as to thinking I could try living life the way I did…"

"This was a freak accident, a coincidence. No need to think of it anymore."

"As soon as we get back into town, I've gotta get me a new plate."

There was a pause before Dave spoke again. "Here," he said, dropping something on the ground, "I went and found it for you. I know you may think that you blew your only chance. There's no need to pretend anymore, we know."

Brian looked at the restrictor plate laying next to him. The moon barely reflected off it giving away what it was.

"Things may or may not have gone well today, but at least you tried. For that, just know that you can't always be strong. We know that your bestfriend was everything. It's just… he can't come back. We're proud of you for trying to come back as well. We lost the Brian we once knew when Colton died, and all of us were glad to see you come back, even though it may have only been for ten minutes. We were happy knowing that your true self isn't completely lost." Dave told him, ending with a sigh.

Dave slid the restrictor plate closer to him, "Don't leave this out here, it's going to rain tonight."

"Does the kid know anything about this?"

"No, nothing at all."

Brian smiled, "Tell James that if he doesn't stop talking bad about me, I'll pound him into scrap metal."

Dave left Brian where he had met up with him. Brian was as tough as they came, the whole town respected him.

Dave drove back inside to see that everyone but Doc was up and talking. "You guys okay?"

"Yeah, we just noticed you two out there is all." Sadie told him.

"I went out there and decided to talk to him… I hope this didn't mess things up too bad…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Back up stairs, Doc was awake listening to them whisper. He heard them talk about being sorry for him, and talking about an accident. The one thing that really got his attention was the name he heard earlier, Colton.

He listened closer, hoping to pick up on any good details. Most of the talk was getting quieter. Downstairs, Joanna was explaining the situation to Sadie, telling her about Colton and the accident.

Doc lost his nerve at how quiet they got, he decided to drive down stairs. He started up his engine and drove out of his room.

Everyone looked up at the ramp that Doc was parked on. "Hey, what are you doing up?" James asked.

"The same reason you guys are." He continued driving down the ramp heading for the front door.

"I don't think your best friend wants to talk to someone right now." Dave suggested.

"Oh yeah? Well maybe I need to talk to him." He flung the front door open and went outside. Everyone gathered to the window to see Brian's reaction to Doc.

Brian had flinched at the closing of the door, he turned around to see what angry car was coming outside now.

Doc pulled up next to Brian by the shoreline. He was actually tolerating the company. "Glad to see that you're mellow again."

"Yeah, about that…"

"Since no one else can explain to me what's going on around here, can you? You seem to be the source of the problem."

Brian laughed under his breath, "Do me a favor and fetch me a beer, it's over there by the log."

Doc did what he was told, he wanted answers. He came back with the case trying to make a peace offereing.

Doc looked at the restrictor plate on the ground, "Not only you are the source of the problem, but that is too." Brian looked at it with him. "What's that all about? I'm beginning to think that what Dave told me has been a lie. You're not just perfecting your driving."

"You're right, I'm not, that thing on the ground keeps me from going past 60. Come tomorrow evening I'm getting a new one, this one is old..."

"From what I've heard, the others won't be glad to hear that response." The two watched the water while Brian drank. "Listen, I'm not a jerk, so I'm not going to ask too many questions tonight, the last car I want to annoy is you..."

"Do me a favor, and before you go in for the night, tell the others to go back to bed as well. Tell them that I'm not running away…"

Doc backed up away from Brian's side and looked at the cabin to the left, in the window, he saw everyone looking at them. They immediately pulled away into the shadows.

"Goodnight, Hudson…"

"I hope everything gets back to normal soon."

"Don't we all…"

"By the way, I still think you are a fantastic driver with the plate…"

Doc drove towards the house, he was greeted by everyone's stare. "What?" He asked driving up the ramp to his room.

"What did he say?" Joanna asked.

"He said stop staring at him..."


	8. Chapter 7

**CHAPTER SEVEN**

The next morning, Brian was the last up after spending almost the entire night out by the lake.

"Hey everyone." He said to them, they replied to him cheerfully.

Brian drove over to Doc who smiled at him. He seemed to be the only friendly one. "When are we leaving?"

"When ever you want, it's your place."

"I'd like to stay longer, but everyone has jobs to go to. Let's start heading back to South Carolina…" They looked at each other awkwardly. Brian noticed this, "Guys, I'm fine now, everything is under control, relax. I'm not explaining anything right now, I want this day to go good."

There was silence again.

Sadie drove up to Brian. "We know why there was a meltdown."

Dave and Joanna gasped, they forgot to tell Sadie not to mention to Brian that she knew. Laura stepped in to help Sadie, "So do I."

James slammed his tire on the ground, "You ditz!"

Doc and Laura turned to him, "Don't call her ditz!" He said driving up to him. He pushed him back into the wall, "Call anyone a ditz, it should be Sadie. She mentioned it."

Sadie turned around to face Doc, "Excuse me?"

James drove forward off the wall, "Yeah, she's not a ditz, she's tougher than you."

"Enough!" Dave said to stop them, he knew he was in trouble. They turned their attention back to Brian who couldn't be more pissed.

"So Sadie and Laura know about it, huh? I wonder who told them… I know Mason and James didn't, they know better. I guess we should just get them girls too, so you two can tell them as well. Good job, you failed at keeping a secret."

"But Brian, they had to know about it!" Joanna said, trying to help.

"Why not just paint yourselves black and escort me down the street?"

"At least Hudson doesn't know about it yet!"

"Whoa, my mistake, as far as I'm concerned, you would have told him anyways…"

Dave wasn't happy with the fact that Brian was insulting him and his wife. "Let's just go back to town and get Hudson's fender fixed, and we'll get you a case of beer to shut you up."

Brian drove up to his face, "Get out of my cabin."

"You never even bought it."

"I said get out!"

Dave backed away from him glaring at him. He was the first out the door, Joanna next, then James and Mason. The next out were Laura and Sadie, he stopped them, "I'm sorry you had to witness that girls. Tensions run high between me and him."

They half smiled and accepted his apology.

Brian looked back at Doc who hadn't moved. "You okay now?" He asked approaching him cautiously. He realized that he would soon find out what everyone was talking about, and that there was no need to start up that conversation again.

"Yeah, I didn't mean to yell like that."

Dave drove back up the ramp just enough to yell at Brian. "You also overreact most of the time!"

"Go grind your gears!"

"Don't expect to come back to your room in my house tonight, I hope Sadie has an extra room for you!" Dave informed him.

"You seem awfully sure of yourself, want me to remind you of July 17th?"

"Don't even try me, pretty boy."

Brian started to drive up to Dave when Doc stopped him. "Hey, wait till we get back home to settle this, alright?"

Brian listened to him as he sneered at Dave who was being pulled away by his wife.

"C'mon, let it go." Joanna coaxed.

"I should have been asking rent from him…"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They got home that night and neither of the two had talked to each other since then. Finally, Dave couldn't handle it, he needed to talk to Brian about it.

He pulled him over to the side, away from everyone else who was getting settled back in to the house.

The two drove outside and talked.

"Put the beer down, we need to talk."

"About what?"

"About why I'm such a big problem to you."

"Hmm, I wonder why you're my problem."

Dave ignored Brian's sarcasm. "Yeah, I wanna know, too. It seems like ever since Colton's death, you've hated me. Three years is a long time to hold a grudge against someone when I'll I've ever done for you was try to make things better and be the best friend that I can be. I've been the strong one way too long, and it's time you moved on and started living life." Dave was serious.

"What's there to live for?"

"What about Hudson?"

"Yeah, he's my best friend but you got him for me, he can't replace Colton, alright?"

"I'm not trying to replace him." Dave informed him.

"Well you sure are acting like it…"

Dave scoffed, "So that's why you hate me?"

"I don't hate you, I was resenting your help before I met Hudson."

"We used to be such good friends, are you going to let this get in the way of us?"

"That's not why we have so many fights." Brian sat there underneath the light of the porch, "I feel as if everything I do reminds me of how it used to be like when Colton was around. Everyone that I'm in contact with just brings back the feeling of how it used to be."

Dave knew the incident at the cabin had scared him, but that wasn't the point. "Why do you act so different with me and not everyone else?"

"Because I'm more of a friend with you… I know that if it wasn't for Colton, we wouldn't be takling though."

"All this time I've been trying to protect you, trying to save you, so that we don't lose you as well."

Brian looked up at him, "What do you mean?"

"Face it, you know you changed when Colton left us. You can't deny that…"

"You're right, I won't deny it, I did change, but I can't go back now."

"All of us understand that you need time to adjust. I'm just asking you, stop arguing with me."

Brian began to slide his beer over to Dave to give it to him. Dave sat there and looked at the beer, it brought up a scene in his mind. "That day of Colton's news, that day we met up with you drunk, back in '50, was the saddest day I've ever seen."

"I play that day over and over again all the time…"

"You remember it?" Dave asked.

"I may have been drunk, but not oblivious."

"Still, I think it's time you kicked this habit and starting living your life again."

Brian's mind jumped to the situation with Sadie. "What about Sadie? I can't just stop visiting her."

"I didn't say you couldn't go to the bar, just asking you not to drink when you do go." Dave and Brian turned on the porch to face the street. On top of the hill where Dave's mansion was, they could see the track lights from the South Carolina Racing Headquarters.

"Colton and I used to sit here every night thinking up stuff to do the next day."

"You alright?"

Brian sighed, "Yeah… you know, I've been thinking about what you said to me last night at the lake. I understood what you were telling me, but it's harder than you think."

Dave turned to him, "I've tried my best to be the one you come to advice for, but so far I've had to tell you forcefully. Colton's death hurt all of us, not just you."

"I appreciate what you've done for me Dave. I really don't know how to repay you."

"I don't want you to."

Brian half smiled, "I probably ignore all your help because I don't know how to accept it very well."

When Colton passed away, Brian had not been ready to grow up so fast. He felt like he was facing the world alone. The original plan had been for him and Colton to figure out everything together.

When that hope had been shattered, Brian was left to become someone entirely different.

The two talked for quite some time after that. They were laughing when the front door to Dave's house opened. Dave and Brian stopped laughing to see who it was. "Oh, hey Joanna. What's wrong?"

"It's late boys, you plan on coming back inside any time soon?"

They looked at each other and smiled, "Not really."

It was then that she realized they were actually getting along. "Alright, fine." She drove back inside to the others.

They waited for the door to shut before they continued their conversation. "You remember that time when you had to bail us out of jail?"

"Which time? There were many…"

"I think it was the first time, you were so pissed off you probably couldn't see straight."

"That was because I didn't know you guys were stupid enough to mouth off to a cop. Not one cop… but two. Besides, I didn't want anyone to see me there, I have a reputation to keep." Brian and Dave quieted down for a minute, watching cars go by on the nearest highway. "See, this is what I mean. Don't you miss times like this? Where we could laugh about the same things and reflect on things that made our day? That almost left…"

"Now that would have been a shame."

"It sure would have been. We still have that, we're just one car short." They sat there and listened to the breeze, Dave thought up another question. "You still going to get another restrictor plate?"

Brian smiled and finished the beer after taking it back from Dave. "I don't think so…"

Dave wanted to hear that from Brian, "Wanna race at the compound tomorrow?"

Brian fixed his eyes on the headquarters' lights on the track. "Only if Hudson gets to come."

"I'm taking it that you're on your way of being your old self again?"

"Yeah, you know it. C'mon, let's get back inside. I've gotta drive Sadie home."

"You know, we don't have to be one car short, bring Hudson out here to talk some time and it'll be just like old times."

The two turned to front door. Brian was happy with the way things were going, he got a new best friend who filled in an absence that hadn't been forgotten.

Him and Dave clarified the situation and now they're back to being civilized business partners. The only thing that bothered him was the situation with Sadie.

Everyone inside saw the change in Brian's attitude. Talking to him, they could hear the sarcasm and humor emit from him like back in 1949. They wondered if he would be the one to convince Doc to do stupid, idiotic things with him.

"C'mon Sadie, ready to go home?"

She smiled at the change in Brian's tone. "Yeah, sure." The two drove to the door, "Goodnight everyone, I'll see you some other time."

Brian opened up the door for her and she drove out. "Be back later guys." He shut the door behind him and they took off.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, the boys went out racing for some quality time, something that should have been done all along.

They came home that night after a day of racing, laughing. Driving in the house they were greeted by Sadie, Laura and Joanna.

"Sounds like everything went great. How did it go?" Joanna asked.

Brian stopped laughing so he could talk, "There's a reason why your husband doesn't, excuse me, shouldn't race…"

Dave turned to him, "You think that's funny?"

Doc joined the conversation, "Yeah, you can't even win racing with rules…"

Dave turned to him, "What's that supposed to mean?"

Doc backed up a little out of his way, "Just a statement."

"Uh-huh, we'll see who's laughing when I get tuned up."

"A tune-up won't help you… at all." Brian added.

Joanna laughed, "Was he that bad?"

She shut the front door as the boys parked in the living room.

"No, I wasn't bad." Dave said answering for Brian and Doc, "I just didn't feel like racing."

"So then why was it your idea to race today?"

"I was tired…"

"What ever helps you sleep." Brian cooed with a smirk.

Dave smirked back at him, "You'll see…"

Brian glanced up at the ceiling, "So, you've said that… how many times now?"

Dave rolled his eyes, "Enough, enough. Fine, I get it."

"There's nothing to get, Dave."

The conversation quieted down some, they talked for a little while longer until Brian offered to drive Sadie home. Doc went along and drove Laura home as well.

Coming back to the house, Doc and Brian were talking. "Do you mind staying up a little late? I need to tell you something."

"What's wrong?"

"You've always wanted to know about what happened at the cabin, right?"

Doc half smiled, "Yeah, of course."

Brian had finally convinced himself to tell Doc about Colton. He figured he might as well get it over with.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The two came back to the house and sat in the living room.

Brian sighed and popped his trunk.

"What are you doing?" Doc asked.

"Just go around back, there's a newspaper there, get it will ya?"

Doc drove around the back, he pulled out a newspaper. The first thing he noticed was the picture on the front page. The picture was of a car Doc had never seen before. "What's this?" He asked driving back to face Brian.

"Don't ask the obvious, be thankful I'm actually showing you this. The others haven't seen it since it was printed. They don't know that I've saved it all along."

Doc read the huge and bold headline, 'Local Racer Dies'. He studied the picture, in the bottom right hand corner was a picture of Brian. Doc read further on the article, he then looked up at Brian.

"You want the story now?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next morning, Joanna noticed a change in Brian's attitude again. She pulled him over to the side to talk to him while the others were busy in their conversation. "You okay?"

"I told Hudson about Colton last night."

Joanna was surprised, "What did he say?"

"Nothing, but understood."

"Really now? You finally got over your stubborn, high strung, hard-headedness to tell him?"

"Yep."

"Good, see, it wasn't so bad now was it?"

"Well it's over with, and that's all I have to say about it." Brian looked over at Sadie who was talking to the rest of his friends, Laura by her side.

Joanna noticed this, "It's funny that someone like Sadie could actually tolerate Laura's personality. They are two totally different cars."

"Yeah."

As Sadie was talking to everyone, her eyes met Brian's. Immediately he smiled back.

Joanna turned to him, "You love her." She said with a sheepish smile.

"I don't know what you're talking about..." He insisted.

"Stop with that, I know you do."

"C'mon, be serious."

"No, I am. Laura knows it too. Everyone else might be oblivious, but we know."

Brian wasn't reassured by the meaning of the word _we_. He panicked, "What, does she know? Does Sadie know?"

Joanna smiled, "No, if she did, don't you think she would have said something to you by now?"

Brian sighed in relief, "Don't tell the boys…"

"Would I ever do an idiotic thing like that?"

"Yeah you're right, you're smarter than that. You wouldn't tell them to save your life..."

"Exactly, now go over there and talk to her."

Brian drove up to the other side of Sadie while she continued the conversation with everyone.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Things didn't go so well after that. It was almost a month later, two weeks before the start of the 1954 Piston Cup season.

An annual party was being held, and a huge argument broke out between the eight.

Doc being the main problem, he decided to save himself from further embarrassment, but instead made it worse in the process of arguing.

Outraged, Brian was stunned, absolutely stunned at how this could happen. He had just received news that Doc signed himself over to another team and crew within the hour. It was an embarassment. But more than anything, a complete betrayal.

"Are you kidding me?!" Brian shrieked.

Doc drove closer, "No! I'm not!"

Dave and Brian were fed up with Doc being so irreverent. "You've got to be! Because this isn't you, Hudson!"

Brian did a circle and came back, "Listen, if I knew this is how this was going to turn out, I wouldn't have started to train you!"

Dave got Brian's attention, "You didn't know how this was going to turn out, so it's not your fault!"

"No, it's yours!"

"Mine? How?"

"If you hadn't showed me Hudson, none of this would have happened!"

"Hey! You agreed to training him. I was trying to be a good friend and help your sorry excuse for a life out!"

"No, I was forced to, and I believed that one day this would all go away. Guess not!"

Brian was mad at the fact that he was losing Hudson as a friend, he called the friendship off within an instant. He had to, before it got out of control. Brian stormed out of the place leaving everyone else around them confused and curious.

Dave turned to Doc, "Why would you do this?"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The next day, Doc signed the papers to join another racing team with the cars he had met the night before. The fact that he really had no one hadn't hit him yet. Realizing that he couldn't go back and apologize to Brian and his friends for the way he acted, he stuck with his new team.

It didn't take him long to realize that his team was shallow and untrue. They were in it for the money, and planned to cheat him out of his cut in the pay. Hurting everyone more than he thought, there was no way he could face them. A dissapointment was what he became instantly.

He could tell what he did was wrong and rude. Not being able to turn back put him in the worst position available. That night he had lost Laura in the argument, thus adding to his problem that he created. The effect of it hadn't hit him yet, but he knew he's miss her soon enough.

Not meaning what he said or did dwelled upon him.

After all this time, Brian had slowly convinced himself that maybe keeping Doc around wasn't such a bad idea, and that Dave was doing this for the best. He didn't want a new friend to begin with, but soon saw the better side of things. He had come to far, only to find out that training Doc was a waste. "I don't understand how he could do this… after all this time, it wasn't worth it."

"Brian, stop it. None of us could have saw this coming. It's not you, so don't blame yourself."

"But the thing is, Dave, I taught him what he knows, everything, you know that. And for him to do something like this, so… out of line, says that maybe his true personality finally came out."

"Okay, you know that's not true, don't say that either."

"I don't know what to believe anymore… what ever, I'm done training. I trusted the rookie in the beginning… never again. Thanks Dave, for trying to fix things though."

"If this is Hudson's choice, then so be it."

Brian hadn't trained anyone since then. He resigned for the final time, leaving everything in shrouded mystery again. Brian, hoping that he could start over in life, told himself otherwise.

He felt like Sadie would be the next thing to leave him. "The jerk… who does he think he is? If it wasn't for me, he wouldn't be where he is today."

"I know, I know, just let him learn the lesson the hard way." She told him. That night at the bar had been slow, a good thing.

"You know, that's exactly what I should have done all along. Life has been to easy for him, it's time he did something without my help!"

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

The first race into the season, Doc crashed on qualify day. Two weeks later, he came back to find out that his team didn't want him anymore. To ashamed to come crying back to Brian and Dave, he left South Carolina, leaving many to wonder where he had gone.

He had lost his illustriousness. Living with regret, that one night in 1954 hung over him and wouldn't go away. He never saw Brian, or Laura again. He felt like finding them and apologizing, but thinking he would be thrown out filled his thoughts.

Driving away from South Carolina that week, Doc could only imagine what life he'd lead now. He hadn't put much thought into his decision that one night to ditch his team and break up with Laura. The thought of never seeing that life hurt more than anything. He screwed up, and he knew it.

Laura, he thought, I'm so sorry.

He forced himself to believe that everyone would be okay. They were a tough group of survivors, cars that had seen and heard the worst.

He put them through that again, and now everything was gone.

He packed up everything he owned. The highway he drove on appearing to be his downfall. The farther he got from home, the only thing he knew, the more life seemed to be surreal.

Happiness just didn't seem to come, no matter how hard he tried.


End file.
